Broken Friends
by Cathook
Summary: SG-1 are on a desert planet to explore an energy signature in some ruins. A nice and straightforward mission for a quite recently reunited team, right? As they should have expected the mission goes the usual south course. What are the consequences this time, and for whom? What have they found in the ruins? And what are Jack and Daniel hiding, even from their friends? -*NOT SLASH!*-
1. Chapter 1

**Broken Friends**

The idea for this piece was suggested to me by one of my readers, _hotshow_. Thank you! I hope you enjoy this and that it lives up to your expectations.

**Timeline and spoilers: **Broken Friends is set in season 7, after _Orpheus_, and there are plenty of references from throughout the show up until that point. This story is freestanding however and does not specifically tie in to any existing story line in the show.

**Summary: **SG-1 are on a desert planet to explore an energy signal coming from some ruins. A nice and straightforward mission for a quite recently reunited team, right? As they should have expected the mission goes the same course as most. What will the consequences be this time, and for whom? What have they found on their latest off-world excursion? And what exactly are Jack and Daniel hiding, even from the people closest to them?

**A/N:** This story is somewhat focused on Daniel and Jack, but it is NOT slash. Just a boat load of team/family/friendship fun. :)

**Reviews **are always welcome! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was another anonymous sandy planet. The planets connected to the Stargate-network seemed to mostly come in one of two models: forest or desert. This one fell into the second category, with a surface covered by fine white sand baking under a broiling hot sun. The computers back at Stargate Command had named it PQX-830. Daniel had with Jack's unending support lobbied for them to give it a proper name. However, once they'd arrived on the planet neither of them had been able to think of anything suitable to call it.

The Stargate-site was slightly unique. The big circular naquada-device was placed at the end of a deep canyon that hid it from the incessant winds plaguing the planet's surface. On the other hand those same winds had forced quite a lot of sand into the canyon, forcing SG-1 to wade through deep dunes as soon as they exited the 'gate.

They came through in their usual configuration: Colonel Jack O'Neill on point, with Dr. Daniel Jackson and Major Samantha Carter close behind, and the Jaffa Teal'c bringing up the rear. As soon as the blue puddle winked into nothing they fanned out to perform their standing initial assignments. Sam and Daniel checked the DHD and dialed back to Earth to confirm that they were able to do so. Meanwhile Jack and Teal'c surveyed the area to make sure there weren't any immediate threats. When everything checked out they regrouped and headed out along the floor of the canyon.

They were headed for a collection of ruins that sat a fair distance into the desert beyond the canyon. Those ruins – or rather something in those ruins – were the only reason they were on this dustpan of a planet. The MALP had picked up a faint energy signature at the first screening of the planet, and when they sent a UAV through they'd been able to pinpoint it inside the remains of what once had been a medium sized city. The honorable mission of finding out what the energy signature was and whether it would be useful to Earth had fallen to SG-1. It should be an appropriately straightforward mission for the team that were still getting used to being back together.

The sand collected in the canyon was soft and just a few yards from the 'gate-platform their feet sank in deep with each step. For every two steps they seemed to be gliding back one, making their progress slow and laborious. It wasn't surprising; the MALP had been unable to travel very far from the 'gate before it got stuck, but they had hoped to be able to find firmer footing between the deepest dunes and make their way to the end of the canyon. The UAV had registered the remains of an ancient road that would lead them on to the ruins.

After thirty minutes of struggling through the veritable sea of sand, Jack called a halt and turned to the rest of his team.

"How you doing, kids?" His attempt at a light tone only barely disguised the fact that he was out of wind, and his very real concerns were betrayed by the serious look in his eyes. Sam took her cue from his eyes and responded honestly. Her need to assert herself against the male-dominated culture of the air force had been decidedly dulled over her time with SG-1.

"It's tough going through the sand, sir."

Jack cast an eye in Daniel's direction. His need to 'be fine' had not been dulled by their time together, but Jack had learned to read him like a book. Right now he saw that the archeologist, despite his much improved stamina, was exhausted.

Finally he turned to Teal'c, the very symbol of endurance on the team. Him too Jack had learned to read, and now he identified the very slight crease on the Jaffa's brow that communicated that he was also feeling the strain of pushing through the deep sand.

Jack also knew that part of the reason for that crease was worry for the rest of them. When Teal'c had first joined the team he had found the alien's fatherly attitude to all of them offending, but now he understood that it was born out of the same place as his own dutiful loyalty. They both saw it as their job to look after those weaker than them, and Jack's greatest concern was now – as always – Daniel. The younger man would doggedly continue to push through, but at the slow going they'd managed so far getting to the road at the end of the canyon might take them all day. If Daniel was exhausted already Jack didn't know if he could cope for that long. He returned his gaze to his second in command.

"Carter, which direction are those ruins?"

"That way, sir," she answered and pointed to their right. "Compass puts it to the northeast according to the magnetic field of this planet."

"Right." Jack glanced at the compass on his own watch to confirm, and then eyed the cliff face in the appointed direction. The wall was steep and about twelve feet high, but a short intense climb might prove less difficult than hours of trudging through the dunes.

"Okay, campers. Let's see if we can manage to scale that wall instead, and skip out on the round trip of the scenic route."

"You think that's wise, sir?" Carter asked, and no one could miss the look she cast towards Daniel. His exhaustion hadn't passed her by either, but she had yet to reach the same conclusion regarding the best solution as the colonel.

"It beats sand-swimming." Jack pointed out, and she couldn't give him fault there, even if not all of them were as good climbers as him. Jack seemed to have read her mind, because he continued, "I'll go first and secure a rope to help the rest of you up."

"Yes, sir."

It took them another ten minutes of "take two steps, slide one back" to cross the twenty yard distance to the base of the wall. When they finally reached it Jack knew by the look on Daniel's face that stubbornness alone was keeping him from collapsing in a panting heap. _This'll be the better option,_ Jack thought, _even if I have to pull him up myself_.

Jack unclipped his backpack and handed it to Sam, who in return gave him a roll of rope she'd picked out of Daniel's pack. He slung the rope over his head and across his chest, and bent down to pick up a handful of sand. In lack of chalk the sand would have to serve in reducing the slipperiness of his hands.

After giving his hands a good rub he turned to study the cliff face. It was rough and full of jagged edges, but that only made his job all the more easy. Every edge was a place for him to hold on to. With a short nod to his teammates Jack began scaling the wall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The climb was fairly easy for an experienced climber like Jack and he had soon reached the top of the twelve feet wall. He quickly secured the rope around a protruding rock and sent it down for the others.

"Tie the rope around your waist," he called down, "and be careful. The edges are great for grip but they're pretty sharp too. Don't cut your fingers."

Sam was the first to head up the wall after Jack. She was not as experienced in climbing as him, but thanks to her military training she made quick work of the ascent. The rope around her waist was a comforting security, particularly since her heavy backpack made her back-heavier than she would have liked for climbing. Once at Jack's side, she unclipped the pack from her back and readied herself to help in pulling the remaining two up.

When the rope came snaking down again Teal'c helped Daniel secure it around his waist. Having had a chance to catch his breath while he waited for his turn, Daniel managed better than Jack had hoped. Almost as swiftly as Sam and Jack he reached the top of the wall and the two of them helped him up over the edge.

As soon as Teal'c saw Daniel's legs disappear above the edge of the cliff he heaved himself up onto the wall, with Jack's pack on his back along with his own. He had no need for the rope, which belatedly fell down beside him. Jack couldn't help but smile at the silent demonstration of self-sufficiency.

The team took a breather passing around a canteen of water and gazing out over their new scenery. The ruins of the ancient city were barely discernible at the horizon from their vantage point on the edge of the canyon. Between them and it was more than a day's trek across a seemingly endless stretch of torrid sand. When all four of them had gathered some strength and quenched their thirst they rehefted their packs and Jack took point as they started walking.

Despite the desert's quite accurate Sahara-impression the trek proved to be a lot less difficult than their struggle down in the canyon. The sand was harder packed up here, and even if a fair amount of it constantly seemed to be airborne it wasn't much of a nuisance. The only problem was the blistering heat from the sun up above, which soon had the sweat running down their backs despite their light desert camouflage uniforms.

"Phu!" Jack exclaimed as he pulled off his cap for what seemed like the hundredth time to wipe his brow.

"Oh, come on Jack," Daniel teased from behind him with a surprisingly bright tone of voice. "At least we aren't 'sand-swimming' anymore."

Jack spun around to stare at the archeologist, who to his great annoyance actually seemed to be quite comfortable in the blazing sun.

"'Come on'? I'm turning into a puddle here and you're telling me 'come on'?"

"It's not that bad. Take the chance – get a tan." Daniel passed him by with a magnanimous smile.

"Not that bad? You can't seriously tell me that you like this heat?"

The team came to a complete halt as Jack stepped in front of Daniel with a sweeping gesture to the great expanse of sandy hills. Sam and Teal'c hesitantly hung back, waiting to see how the stand-off between their teammates would turn out this time. It wasn't unusual for them to banter like this. _Hell, _Sam thought, _it is almost the only way they've ever talked to each-other. _Sometimes the banter turned into bickering – _like_ _an old married couple_ – and sometimes it turned into a full-blown argument. The last scenario wasn't usually the case though when the subject was as unimportant as the weather, so she felt reasonably sure the outcome of the pair's latest spat wouldn't be too bad.

"Jack, I grew up in Egypt," Daniel pointed out with another smile. "And I spent over a year on Abydos." He was actually enjoying himself, he realized, both in being in familiar surroundings and in taunting Jack.

"Yeah, okay, but even Teal'c thinks this is uncomfortable."

Even Jack seemed surprised at his own allegation, and all three human members of SG-1 turned to regard the stoic Jaffa. Teal'c scowled at their scrutiny, but eventually gave a slight nod as acknowledgement to Jack's statement.

"See?! No human, or Jaffa, in their right mind could find this oven of a planet comfortable. Not to mention the sand. Feels like I got sandboxes on my feet instead of shoes."

"Well, I'll admit it's hot," Daniel conceded, making Jack grin victoriously – until he finished off, "but I like it."

"Why?!' The incredulous look on Jack's face would have made Sam laugh, hadn't it been for the fact that she agreed with him. She did not enjoy their hike through the desert any more than he did, and aside from his childhood and Abydos she couldn't understand why Daniel seemed to like it so much. _It's not like he's better equipped for it than us either, with his light complexion._ Daniel didn't seem quite as eager to answer Jack's question as Jack was for an answer. Instead of continuing the banter as he usually would, he suddenly turned away and went back to walking.

"Wait!" Jack had to run to catch up with him. "Why?"

"Why what?" Daniel asked in response, with feigned incomprehension.

"Oh no, no you don't. Don't try to avoid the question. Now I really want to know: why do you like it here?"

"I want to know too." Sam couldn't help but throwing in her interest when Daniel just barreled on silently.

To her surprise Teal'c chimed in almost at the same time, "I too am curious as to the reason for your affection of this place."

Daniel stopped at this sudden consensus vote from his teammates, but he didn't turn around. He stood gazing out over the dunes towards the ruins in the distance. When he spoke it was with a low and pensive voice, thick with emotion.

"It reminds me of Egypt. Of being on a dig. Of..." He paused for so long that they almost thought he wouldn't continue. Just as Sam opened her mouth to say something encouraging he finished with a whisper, "…of my parents." Then he simply resumed his march across the sand. This time Jack let him go without another word. _I should have known._

They traveled in silence the rest of the day, only exchanging the necessary words for direction and passing around the canteens of water. When night came it came quickly, bringing with it a compact darkness as soon as the sun slipped below the horizon. The pre-mission scans from the MALP had revealed a quite unique feature of the planet: it had no moon. The only night-time light was the faint glow of stars far away in space. While it made for a spectacular display of the Milky Way, it wasn't much use when it came to guiding their steps and just minutes after the sun had set it was already too dark to see even a few yards ahead.

SG-1 managed to set up their camp before the dark fell, but they had to finish their evening meal with the help of night vision goggles. They ate sitting in a ring, in a world almost aglow with the night vision's green phosphorous tint. As Daniel looked around at his friends, half of their faces obscured by the big bulky devices, he could barely suppress a laugh.

"What is so amusing DanielJackson?" came Teal'c's voice from across from him.

"We just look kind of funny, that's all."

There was a beat of silence as Teal'c turned his head to take in the scene. Then, to everyone's surprise, he said:

"You are correct."

"Wow, was that an admittance of having a normal sense of humor?!" Jack teased and shoveled another spoonful of MRE-style beef stew in his mouth.

"Actually, his sense of humor is more normal than yours, Jack."

Jack was glad to hear Daniel clearly baiting him for another banter-match, and the colonel was not one to disappoint.

"Is that so?"

"Yup." Daniel turned to him with a grin that enveloped the entire visible part of his face.

"And what do you base that on?"

"Ehm…" He made a show of thinking. "Last night, maybe…"

Jack didn't retort, and even if Daniel couldn't see his eyes he knew he was being glared at menacingly. It was time to shut up, but what he didn't know was that the situation already was out of his control. Sam leaned forward.

"What happened last night?"

"Daniel…" The warning in Jack's voice was evident.

"We…we were at Jack's place, he made a bad joke, end of story."

"You were at Jack's place? Again?" Of course Sam had to latch on to the wrong part of his explanation.

"Yeah?" Daniel tried the feigned incomprehension from last time a conversation had gone where he didn't want it, only hours earlier. It didn't work any better this time. Sam had found a ragged thread to tug and her curiosity wouldn't allow her to let go until she knew the truth.

"Didn't you move off-base to your own place a couple of weeks ago?"

"Yes." _Sort of._

"But, if my calculations are right, you haven't even spent one night there. As soon as we're off duty, and you actually leave the base, you're at Jack's place. Why?"

Daniel didn't know what to say. Dumbfounded at the mess his mouth got him in today – _well, most days_ – he turned to Jack, hoping that his pleading eyes would somehow translate through the goggles. They must have, or maybe Jack had just picked that same moment to put a stop to the proceedings.

"He lives there. I asked him to move in with me. End. Of. Story." he declared tersely.

"But…"

"Carter! The conversation's over, it's time to hit the sack. Teal'c you're on first watch. Then me – Carter – and Daniel, you're on last."

"Yes, sir." Sam gave in since the colonel's words were only just short of an order, but she made a mental note to keep digging as soon as an opportunity presented itself. _Perhaps when Jack isn't around._

The changing of watches was a well-rehearsed routine; each of the team-members taking their turn in keeping guard against enemies and wild animals. When Sam woke Daniel and he got up to do the last two hours, it was still pitch dark and he soon realized that the night was unusually quiet. The only sounds penetrating the darkness were the ones made by him and his three teammates. Not even the sounds of insects, which he would expect at night in a desert, were there. The silence added to the compactness of the darkness around him, making him tense and on edge. The restlessness made his skin crawl as he sat there idly, gazing out across the sand through his night vision goggles. There wasn't even a fire for him to tend, since they had nothing to light one with.

The minutes ticked by excruciatingly slow, so to busy his mind Daniel thought back to the subject of the discussion earlier in the evening. The secret was out, now the rest of the team knew that Jack had asked him to move in with him, but the reasons still no one but Daniel and Jack knew.

* * *

"Hey, Daniel. Whatcha doing?"

Jack had found him in his lab, interrupting the translation he was working overtime to finish. For once Daniel hadn't minded the interruption. His mind was already distracted; in fact he had stared unseeingly at the same line for the past twenty minutes, and had just started to consider actually going to bed.

"Hi Jack," he replied with a smile as the older man invited himself to sit on his one uncluttered spare chair. "Something I can help you with?"

"Ehm…well…" Jack picked up one of the many ancient artifacts that sat scattered across Daniel's desk, and nervously tossed it back and forth between his hands. Daniel sighed and carefully picked the little clay statuette right out of the air in front of the colonel.

"What is it Jack?"

To Daniel's surprise Jack didn't answer him, but squirmed like a schoolboy put on the spot. Avoiding Daniel's eyes he grabbed another small figurine from the table and fidgeted with it while he cast glances at the open door and up towards the camera in the corner of the room. For a moment Daniel could do nothing but stare at him incredulously. Then he plucked the new endangered artifact from his hands. Not entirely sure why, he walked over to the door and closed it and reached up into the corner to unplug the camera. With a little luck it would be a while before anyone noticed and came to check on the defect surveillance.

"There? Now can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Wrong? No, nothing's wrong…. I just…I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Okay…" Daniel had never seen his friend like this. It reminded him of himself in the early years of the Stargate program. Or perhaps even of how it may have looked that time when Ma'chello's machine made them all switch bodies and he ended up in Jack's body for a while.

After another drawn-out moment of silence, Jack continued.

"I wanted to…see if, maybe…you might wanna…move in with me?"

"Move in with you?"

"Yeah, you know…you've got nowhere to stay off-base, being as you've only been un-dead for a couple of weeks…and I…"

"You…?"

Jack squirmed again under Daniel's gaze, and Daniel could hardly keep from grinning amusedly at the sight.

"What, Jack? Just say it."

"Well, I…I could use the company."

Jack hadn't wanted to say any more there and then, but since he had seemed so jittery about asking him, Daniel had decided go along with it and move in. After all, Jack also had a point about the state of his living arrangements. He hadn't been able to get himself a place yet after descending. Staying on-base all the time wasn't ideal either, even if he had already returned to his old habit of working through the nights – or perhaps precisely because of that habit. Doctor Fraiser had been on his case a lot on that particular subject, and the news that he'd found a place off-base had brought a pleased smile to her lips. The arrangement had worked out well for everyone. At least as long as they managed to keep it quiet that his and Jack's off-base residents were the same.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Daniel's thoughts were interrupted by the first sliver of dawn appearing on the horizon. With no clouds to block its light the rays cut like golden knives through the darkness. Daniel gratefully removed his night vision goggles and rose to wake the others up. After a quick breakfast, without the according to Daniel essential ingredient of coffee, SG-1 continued their journey towards the ruins. They didn't have far to go and before noon they reached the outskirts of the city.

They halted a few yards away from the first ancient, and partly sand-covered, buildings while Sam dug out a scanner from her backpack. It had been modified specifically for this mission to pinpoint the source of the energy signature. She pushed a few buttons and dials to turn it on.

"This way," she told the rest of the team when a little green dot showed up on the display, pointing them down what seemed to be the main street.

"Stay alert, kids," Jack ordered and brought up his P90 to ready position.

With a nod that said "Yes, sir", Sam unlocked the safety on her weapon and positioned one hand on the handle; her other hand currently occupied with the scanner. To the untrained eye Teal'c would have seemed not to respond at all to the colonel's order, but his team could tell by the slightly altered grip on his staff weapon that he was prepared to fire it within a fraction of a second. Even Daniel, who once had been utterly averse to handle any kind of weapon, now expertly readied his gun. He still always strived to talk first and shoot later, but over his years at the SGC he had reluctantly learned that with some people shooting was the only way.

There was something eerie about the silent ruins. The only sounds to be heard was their own footfalls on the sand-covered road, and the wind sweeping through the hollow carcasses of crumbling buildings. The wind played tricks on their ears, bringing forth ghostly whispers as it drove a thousand little grains of sand through the gaping openings of windows and doors. Daniel found himself repeatedly spinning around, expecting to catch a glimpse of someone who had made the whisper, but each time he turned the voices winded away and around him with another gust of dusty air. _It's all in my head_, he thought, with Jack's commanding voice for extra weight. Still he was unable to shake the feeling of being watched.

As they got closer to the city centre the buildings were less rubble and more houses. For the last fifteen minutes Sam had stopped often to readjust their course, until Daniel was pretty sure they were walking in circles. He knew that Jack must have noticed too, nothing really got past the colonel despite how dumb he might act, but for the moment at least he chose to hold his tongue and not point out that they were lost.

Finally Daniel couldn't help himself. When they stopped for the third time on the same street, which he was quite convinced they'd been on two times already, he stepped closer to one of the buildings and peaked in through the doorway. The roof was still mostly there and the walls seemed intact too. Since he stood in the doorway, what little light there was came through a single small window, but what it fell on immediately caught Daniel's attention. He quickly dug out his penlight from a vest pocket and hurrying forward he added its cone of light to the illumination.

"Wow…"

The walls were covered with paintings, elaborate and detailed works of art, depicting a lush green forest. _The painter must have been a real master_, Daniel thought as he held his light over his head and took a step back to appreciate the mural in its entirety. The effect was immediate and surprising, the flat brush strokes on the clay wall suddenly transforming into three dimensional depth. The relative coolness in the shadowy room added to the illusion that he had been instantaneously transported deep into a forest. He keyed his radio and called with an excited voice.

"Guys…I think you might want to see this."

A few minutes later his three team members had joined him in the small building. Daniel had brought down his pen light to not reveal the magic of the painting at once. Now he held it back up high to let the light reach as much of the painting as possible.

"Yikes!" Sam exclaimed with awe in her voice. Jack on the other hand seemed hesitant as he stepped closer to the wall. He carefully laid his hand on the flat surface, no doubt testing its solidity and making sure it held no nasty surprises. Teal'c stood statue-still as always but his eyes were systematically taking in the scene in front of him. One by one they all switched on their torches and soon the room was bathing in light, making the painting's effect more intense with each added beam.

"I'd swear this room was no more than nine feet across," Sam mumbled to herself as she stepped forward and let her hand slide along the wall. The touch reaffirmed her that the wall was still there but the illusion constantly and repeatedly convinced her eyes to not agree. "This is incredible! I wonder how it is done..."

"Well kids," Jack interrupted her astonished speculation, "as much as I enjoy some random art appreciation, we're on the clock here and we still need to find this energy source. Hammond only gave us three days before we're due back and the return trip takes at least a day, remember."

_Trust Jack to not be swayed from the objective even at such an extraordinary discovery_, Sam thought and reluctantly put away her flashlight. _At least the objective is finding some interesting tech_.The prospect of a new alien gadget to play with appeased her disappointment, and she picked up her scanner and turned it on. The green dot was still there, cheerily blinking and placing the alien technology not far away. As soon as she ducked out into the street however it recommenced its elusive dance, leading her a few meters in one direction before turning her around and repeating it all over again.

Frustrated she stopped and just barely bit back a stream of expletives just begging to be spit at the scanner. As she was staring angrily at the small display she realized something was different about it. The green dot seemed to be brighter than before. When she left the little building with the paintings she had thought it was a trick of her eyes brought on by the relative darkness inside, but even in the intense sunlight the little light was definitely stronger.

She hurried back to the others, who were still – more or less – eagerly studying the forest mural. That is, Daniel was excitedly examining every inch of it under lights held by a reluctant colonel and an unreadable Jaffa.

"Colonel…"

"What you got, Carter?" Jack asked, more than happy to be interrupted since it gave him an excuse to lower his upheld arm.

"I'm not sure what it means, but the signal is stronger than before." She cast an eye on the scanner. "And I think it's stronger in here than outside. I think this room is somehow linked to whatever is emitting the energy signature."

"But why is it stronger now than before?" Daniel asked. Jack merely nodded his agreement with the question.

"It must have to do with the light. Something happens with the paintings when the light hits them, right? And the more light we add, the bigger the effect. So if the paintings are linked to the energy source, we shining light on the paintings made the device – or whatever it is – more active."

Daniel nodded and pensively eyed the paintings.

"But why? What is it for?"

"And how do we find it?" Jack's interjection left Daniel's questions hanging as Sam answered her CO.

"If the device is linked to the room we should be able to find the link and follow that."

"Does that mean I'm turning into a light fixture again?"

Sam nodded sympathetically, while Daniel turned towards the wall to hide a smirk. Jack and Teal'c took a flash light in each hand and held them up over their heads to give as much illumination as possible to their teammates' search. _The more light the faster it should be right_, Jack thought hopefully.

Daniel and Sam searched systematically; from the left side of the door and all around to the other side. The three dimensional forest constantly played tricks on their minds, and it took immense amounts of concentration to ignore it and study the flat wall beneath. Before long they had to resort to feeling their way across the surface with their hands. It was a slow process, but when they finally reached the end of their circuit of the room they wished they'd had longer to go.

"There's nothing here," Sam admitted disappointedly as they both rose to stretch their legs.

Daniel pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose; a gesture that told his friends that he was quickly developing a headache. Jack lowered his lights and dug out a power bar from his vest. It was one of the high-caffeinated ones that Daniel usually brought for himself to compensate for the frequent lack of coffee on their missions. Despite the fact that he seemed to stuff them into every available pocket Daniel never seemed to have enough of them, so Jack had long since begun to bring extra to supplement him with when he ran out. Now he pressed one into Daniel's hand, who gave him a crocked smile in thanks.

The power bar soon had its desired effect. The caffeine was like fuel to Daniel's workaholic brain, and just after a few bites he was already staring at the wall in front of him with a new and thoughtful gaze.

"Maybe we're going about this all wrong," he mused, as he began to pace back and forth in the room.

"What do you mean?" Sam's asked.

"We're trying to see through the effect of the paintings in order to find the device connected to them, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yes. We need to find out how they're connected, so we can follow the link back to the device."

"Yeah, but what if they aren't just connected." Daniel was in full excited-genius-mode now, gesturing with both hands while he talked. "What if it is the device that is creating the effect and the paining is in fact there to help us find it."

"But how?"

"Instead of looking behind the forest we need to look at it."

By now Jack was lost – but if he was honest that was his usual state when the two scientists on his team talked nerd. And, as usual, Daniel acted on whatever it was that Jack hadn't understood yet before he could stop him. He grabbed his penlight and spun around to face the painting again. For a moment he just stood there, intensely studying the forest. Without warning he stepped forward, so suddenly and fast that Jack thought he was going to slam right into the wall. Instead he seemed to melt into the painting, first becoming smaller and then disappearing between the trees. Too late, Jack reacted and ran forward, only to himself slam into the wall as he had thought Daniel would.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"What the hell?!" Jack screamed and rubbed his sore nose. Sam was right by his side, running her hands over the spot where Daniel had disappeared, and even if she was silent the same sentiment was clear on her face.

"What happened, Carter?" Jack demanded.

"I don't know, sir. The wall is just as solid here as everywhere else. Whatever happened must have been temporary, but I have no idea how it happened or even what it was."

Teal'c, who had until now dutifully remained as a light fixture, stepped up to the wall as well.

"Perhaps it would be wise to consider the words of DanielJackson before he stepped through the mural."

"You're right," Sam exclaimed and turned to the two men with glittering eyes. "He said we have to stop looking at the forest as a painting and instead see it as a real forest."

"Really?" Jack replied skeptically "'Cause my nose is pretty sure it's a wall and not a forest."

"Yes, I suppose it must somehow require us to believe that the forest is real…" Her voice trailed off as the thought ran away from her and the logic world where she was most comfortable. Faith had always been a subject more in Daniel's department than hers.

"Alright," Jack grumbled with a glare at the wall. He lifted his flashlight in the same way as Daniel had done and tried to 'see the forest'. Trying to ignore the pain from his previous encounter with the wall he strode forward. None to his surprise he hit the wall again, albeit less forcefully than the first time.

"Let me try," Sam requested and assumed the position they were rapidly beginning to associate with attempting to pass through the wall. She stood still for a moment, looking at the remarkable image before her, but it was harder than she'd thought to not remember the solid wall somewhere behind the illusion of depth. In the end she just stepped forward, and just like Jack before her she hit the wall with a thud.

"Why isn't it working?" Jack asked irritably.

"I think you have to not be afraid to hit the wall," Sam sufficed with a groan.

"Well, then we know why it worked for Daniel; he's not afraid of anything even if it makes sense to be."

Jack glared at the wall again. He _was_ going to get through. Remembering what Daniel had done right before he passed through, he started to study the painting in detail. The trees were actually quite similar to the large pines around his cabin. Keeping the thought of that familiar forest in his mind he stepped forward and this time the wall, painting and all, evaporated before him.

On the other side was a dark staircase that spiraled downwards. Jack's momentum brought him right over the edge of the first step and he almost dropped his flashlight as he grabbed for the iron railing to steady himself. Once he'd gotten his footing back he turned around, and wasn't surprised to find a smoothly plastered wall. _Okay, no going back._ He turned back to the dark stairs and tried to shine his light around the bend in the wall.

"Daniel?"

There was no response. _Crap! _He cast another look at the wall from whence he'd come. With no sounds from the two on the other side he had no way of knowing when or if they'd be following. If Daniel had fallen down the stairs – _which is most likely with his luck_ – he could be seriously hurt. With an exasperated sigh Jack started down the stairs alone.

Meanwhile Sam and Teal'c were simultaneously attempting to pass through the portal, as Sam had dubbed it. Flashlights held high and focusing on not remembering the pain of walking head first into a wall they stepped forward, only to once more bruise their faces on the clay hidden behind the illusion.

"I don't understand what we're doing wrong," Sam sighed while rubbing the latest sore spot.

"We must be failing to achieve sufficient belief," Teal'c answered in his ever level voice.

"Yeah. I wish we could ask Daniel or the colonel how they did it."

"I believe DanielJackson simply possesses the required faith."

"And the colonel?"

"His mind is practical. I believe he must have availed himself of the memory of a real forest."

"You think so?" Sam brightened at this insight from Teal'c.

"Indeed."

"Well, maybe we can do the same thing."

Teal'c merely bowed his head in the way he usually would to show his agreement.

"So," Sam continued, in a pep-talky kind of voice, as they both returned to face the wall yet again, "imagine a real forest."

"I believe we must visualize the depicted forest and the one in our memory to be one and the same."

"Right...Visualize...The forest is real…."

For what seemed to Sam like a long time they stared at the three dimensional forest before them, each conjuring up from memory a forest they knew well. Teal'c thought of his home-world Chulak and its profuse mix of soft- and hardwood trees. Sam turned her mind to a small wooded area where she had used to go camping with her family while her mother was still alive. In unison that spoke heavily of their experience of working together, they silently stepped forward. A part of Sam still expected to hit her head on the wall, but to that part's surprise the wall dissolved into darkness – and then only Teal'c's steady presence next to her kept her from falling head first down the stairs.

"O'Neill? DanielJackson?"

Teal'c's rumbling voice echoed down the staircase, and for an agonizing moment the echoes was the only response. Then a crackling erupted from his radio, followed by Jack's voice.

"We're down the stairs. Is Carter with you?"

"Indeed she is."

"Good. I need her down here to take a look at Daniel. He took a tumble down the stairs and I want to make sure he's okay before I let him lose on the interiors here."

Amusement and worry mingled in the pit of Sam's stomach as she and Teal'c hurried down in turn after turn. They found the other half of their team at the foot of the stairs. Daniel lay on the floor, his feet propped up on the last step. By his side was Jack. Sam wasn't sure if his hand on the younger mans chest was there to comfort him or to hold him down. Judging from the look on Daniel's face Sam opted for the later and hurried forth to check him over before he lost patience and hurt himself further by trying to get up.

"You probably have a mild concussion," she told him after the quick examination, "but let me know if you experience any symptoms like pain, nausea or dizziness that could point to something more serious." _Not that you will. _

"Great. Can I get up now?" The impatient question was just as much directed to Jack as Sam, and with a pair of matching smirks they both backed away to let him up.

As soon as Daniel was on his feet he snapped up his penlight from the floor and proceeded to shine its light around the room. It was larger than the room upstairs, and seemed to be carved straight out of the bedrock. The walls were smooth and undecorated. Instead of elaborate murals this room was decorated by an intricate mosaic of multicolored tiles on the floor, pointing whoever entered towards a large circular table at the centre of the room. Along the back wall was a massive glass incased display, filled with curious objects that drew Daniel to them like a magnet. Jack smiled again and turned to Sam.

"Well Carter, while our Danny has a field day at the museum over there maybe you could whip out your little thingy-ma-jig and see if that energy source is really down here."

Sam nodded and did as he said, pulling her scanner out of her pocket and turning it on for the third time today. The signal represented by a green dot was strong and to her relief it had finally stopped dancing around, now pointing her steadily towards the centre of the room. By twisting a few dials on the scanner she fine-tuned the settings and began to circle the table.

The furniture was made of solid stone, seemingly carved from the very same bedrock as the entire room. There were more than a dozen seats around the table, all identical except one. The chair with its back to the display wall had a higher, elaborately carved backboard and instead of legs it stood on a solid base.

When she held it down by the base of the chair, the scanner beeped like an excited tin dog that had found its stick. Sam slid her fingers around the boxlike construction in search of a removable panel or hatch, and eventually found the release at the back right corner. With a hiss the back panel slid down into the floor, revealing the complicated wiring of some sort of machine.

Behind her Daniel was excitedly studying the artifacts behind the glass, practically bouncing up and down as he rushed from one item to another.

"This is amazing. There are objects here from hundreds of civilizations, ranging from primitive to highly developed. And look, look, this looks like a Tollan device, and that over there looks Asgard, and, and I think that there could have belonged to the Nox. Jack, this is extraordinary!"

"Really?" Jack's voice held its usual cold disinterest for Daniel's findings, but his heart warmed at the sound of his friend's enthusiastic rant. It had been far too long since he heard it last. He even found himself curious about where he might be going with it. _Well, what did I expect? That living with him wouldn't affect me in any way?_

"Yes, this is evidence that the people of this planet had contact with a multitude of other civilizations, and since I recognize some of them as peoples we've met on other planets, most of them were probably not native to this planet. And what's even more important, I can see no Goa'uld influence whatsoever here. I think this planet once held a quite sophisticated and independent society, which was allied to most of our foremost allies and friendly to those less developed."

Sam smiled at her fellow geek's exhilaration as she unclipped her backpack and pulled out a small laptop. After studying the alien device's wires for another moment she connected the laptop to it with a few of her own. The display flickered to life and showed a complex diagram of energy and data output. Settling down on the floor she began to sift through the information in search of the purpose of the device and possible applications for it back on Earth.

Simultaneously Daniel was pulling out his premier tool: a digital video camera. The elation still strong in his voice, he began dictating as he took a slow-panning capture of the items behind the glass.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After the two geeks had been at it for a good while the muscle-part of the team were beginning to get bored. Not that anyone except his teammates would have been able to distinguish that – or any emotion – from Teal'c's statuesque stance. Jack on the other hand had gone through the steps of actually curiously checking out the room, via playing with everything he could get his hands on, to nodding off in a chair at the table. Rolling his shoulders to counteract the building stiffness, he sauntered over to Sam and peered over her shoulder onto the incomprehensible figures on the laptop.

"Got anything interesting there Carter?" he drawled in his best bored-kid tone of voice. She ignored his childishness and answered the little portion of him she knew was her CO actually asking for a status report.

"Well, this device is _so_ much more than I first imagined. It is definitely what's powering the forest illusion upstairs, but it also holds a very large quantity of information."

"Sweet! What does it say? Anything useful?"

"I'm not sure. Most of it is protected by some kind of firewall prohibiting me from actually accessing the information. Some kind of message keeps popping up on my screen though, but I need Daniel to take a look at it and translate."

"Hey, Danny-boy!" Jack's shout cut straight into Daniel's videotaping, eliciting an annoyed response from the archaeologist.

"Yes Jack?!"

"Come take a look at this."

"What is it?!"

"The device keeps sending me this series of symbols," Sam answered, quickly diffusing the building tension between her two friends. "I think it might be some sort of message. Can you read it?" She showed Daniel the message on her laptop screen.

Ѩ꞉꞉† ͻ • ͼ ͻ ͽ †₪ Ξ Ϫ ٿ ٮ  
Ѩ꞉꞉† ͼ ͻ • ͽ † ∏ ҈

"It's instructions," he said after a moment's pondering.

"Instructions for what?" Jack inquired.

"Well, the message is not text but pictograms. This here…" Daniel pointed at the first of the symbols. "…seems to indicate a chair, a specific one judging by the overlapping lambda-sign." He jumped up to take a closer look at the chair that the laptop was attached to. The sign that looked like a Greek lambda was at the centre of the carved backboard, confirming his guess that it was the chair referred to in the message.

"What does the next one mean?" Sam urged him on.

"I think the four dots symbolize some kind of panel of buttons." He sat down in the chair. From this new perspective he expeditiously found the aforementioned buttons on the edge of the table right in front of him. He let his hand slide over the four round buttons.

"Daniel…" Jack's weary warning was as usual both too late and unheeded, as Daniel tapped in a combination.

"It's just a code Jack," Daniel explained amusedly. Before Jack could ask what the code was for a section of the table rose and revealed a row of what looked like small blue circuit cards or data chips.

This time it was Sam who jumped up to take a closer look, albeit a little more hesitant in her movements than Daniel as he carefully picked one of the chips out of its slot. It came loose with a small click, and for a moment the team held their breaths in anticipation of a booby trap. Nothing happened however and they all started to relax, when a loud hissing erupted from the display wall. Jack and Teal'c both leveled their weapons on the offending noise while Sam dove for cover behind the nearest chair. The only one who seemed unsurprised was Daniel.

"Calm down, guys," he said while walking up to the display wall where a small glass tray had been extended.

"What is it? And how do you know it's not dangerous?" Jack asked suspiciously. In his experience that was the wisest attitude towards alien devices, especially those offering information seemingly free of charge. _Like a certain Ancient repository._ He shuddered, but Daniel just waved off his fretfulness with an indulgent gesture.

"It's a gift, for us. It was in the instructions. See…" He picked up the item from the tray and showed it to the rest of them. "…it looks just like the one that's like the triangle with bunny ears."

Jack was not entirely convinced either of the items they'd received was harmless, but in lack of a clear threat he lowered his weapon anyway.

"What is it?" he curiously asked Daniel, who was carefully examining the item in his hand.

"I don't know, but I think it represents the people who built this place. We should leave something for them in return, something that represents us."

"Why? They're all gone, there's no one here to receive it."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. This place is too clean to be completely abandoned."

"He's right, sir," Sam interjected, making Jack throw up his arms in a dramatic gesture of defeat.

"Okay, okay. What should we give them then?"

"Hm…" Daniel considered the items at their disposal. There wasn't much that truly represented Earth, or that they didn't need themselves for that matter. They always tried to travel lightly when they had to move on foot. "I know! I have another tape for my camera. Give me a second…there." Daniel exchanged the tape in his video camera, tucking away the precious recording of the display wall in a vest pocket. He handed the camera to Sam, and gestured at her to start recording.

"Hi!" he beamed and waved at the red blinking light when she pointed it in his direction. "I'm not sure if you can understand me…my name is Daniel Jackson, and I and my team are peaceful explorers from a planet called Earth. We come in search of friendship and knowledge. Ehm…thank you for your gifts. I hope you have some means of sending us a message if you are interested in being our friends. Je m'appelle Daniel Jackson. Mon équipe et moi sommes des explorateurs pacifiques, d'une planète appelée la Terre. Nous venons en quête de l'amitié et de la connaissance. Merci pour vos dons. J'espère que vous avez des moyens de nous envoyer un message si vous êtes intéressé à être nos amis. Mein Name ist Daniel Jackson …"

Daniel proceeded to translate his message into every human and alien language he knew, finishing off with a rough version in Unas. _Ought to be one of them they recognize. _Then he took the camera from Sam and panned over her, Jack and Teal'c as they more or less enthusiastically waved to the unknown recipients of the recording. Finally he turned the lens toward a notepad he fished out of his pocket and wrote the 'gate-address to Earth. He filmed the symbols on the paper for a few seconds before turning the camera off and placing it in the glass tray protruding from the display wall. With the same hissing noise with which it had appeared it slid seamlessly back into the glass, and the camera disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.

"Where'd it go?" Sam exclaimed and rushed forward to peer through the glass.

"Hopefully to the people who built this place," Daniel replied. "Maybe later they'll place it in the display with the items other peoples left."

"Cool! We'll be in the hall of fame." Jack declared with his trademark levity. "What now? We done here?"

"Yes, sir. I think we've got what we came for." Sam confirmed, while Daniel reluctantly nodded his agreement. As always, he would have liked to spend ten times the time he was allowed exploring the site, but he would have to make do with his recording to study back on-base. _And if I'm lucky Hammond will agree to send a follow-up team to investigate further, and I can review their findings as well. _

"So, how do we get out of here?" was Jack's next question directed to his trusted geniuses. Silence fell for long seconds as they looked to each other for the answer none of them had. In the end Jack, as the team leader, took charge and ordered:

"Teal'c, check if we can get out the way we came in. The rest of us will take another look around down here."

Teal'c inclined his head and ascended the stairs to investigate for a way out. He knocked on the wall where they had entered, but could not hear the distinct hollow echo that would have told him that there was a space on the other side. The wall seemed just as solid as when they had entered, and unaware of its thickness Teal'c was reluctant to try shooting a hole in it unless it was absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile the rest of the team were thoroughly searching the underground room for a different way out. Their only find was a squared arch mounted right into the stone wall on the right hand of the display. It looked just like a door-frame but the whole thing, the arch and the space inside of it, seemed carved out of the rock that was the wall. When Teal'c rejoined the three humans they were all scouring the arch with eager fingers to find a release that might open a hidden passage.

"No cigar, sir." Sam sighed and sat back on her haunches when her third going over yielded no result.

Jack kicked the solid wall were the nonexistent exit should to have been.

"Damn it!"

Daniel also halted his probing around the edge of the arch. He got to his feet, and his friends immediately identified the 'I might have an idea'-look on his face. They watched him as he strode over to Sam's laptop, which was still plugged in and displaying the pictogram message from the alien device.

"Jack, I think I know how to get us out."

"You do?" _I figured as much._

"Yeah, there's another part to the instructions, the second line. I understand it now that we found that door-frame. See, it looks just like this symbol here." He pointed at the screen for the others to see. "So, if I do this…"

Daniel checked the combination of symbols and pushed the corresponding buttons on the table panel. All of a sudden the wall inside the arch came alive, with the shimmering event horizon of an open Stargate. The sight sent a shudder through Daniel, as he was struck by a memory from years ago, when Ma'chello's Goa'uld killing gadget had made him see a similar display of a puddle without its 'gate. That time it had been contained within his file cabinet, and he'd been the only one who could see it. _Some things I really wish I didn't remember. _

Sam pointed her flashlight at the image and just like the forest image earlier, its three dimensional effect deepened when hit by the light. It even seemed to move and ripple like a real event horizon. She testingly stretched out her hand and felt the smooth rock wall behind the illusion.

"It's like the portal we came through before," she affirmed. "It must be some sort of advanced transportation device that the people of this planet used to protect this place. From what we experienced with the forest mural, I've concluded that it most likely detects brainwaves and that it somehow reacts to the section of the brain associated with belief, thus opening the portal."

"Marvelous. We have to do more of that 'faith makes the magic work'-stuff? My head is still sore after the last one."

"Afraid so, sir," Sam answered in a consoling voice, but she didn't even try to hide the smirk breaking across her face like a wave on the shore at Jack's whiny comment. Teal'c however opted for an actually helpful reply.

"Perhaps DanielJackson can be of assistance, and guide the remainder of us through this time."

"Good thinking Teal'c. Daniel, how'd you get through that forest-portal-thingy on first attempt?"

Jack's query brought Daniel out of his memories and back to the present. He forced away the fear-filled déjà-vu invoked by the portal and approached it, trying to remember it was their only way out.

"Well, it is like Sam says, it sort of runs on belief. If you really believe the image is real, you can pass through it. The effect with the light just makes it easier to believe it is real."

"Okay," Jack acquiesced. "We'll do it the opposite order this time, since you've got it figured out, Daniel. Carter, you're first."

Sam hurriedly gathered up her things and closed the hatch in the base of the chair, before she stepped up to the portal with her flashlight held up high.

"Think of home," Daniel shouted just as she stepped forward towards the shimmering image. His words awoke the image of the gate-room in the SGC from her memory, before she even realized what he had said, and in the very moment she turned her head to ask him she stepped into the image and disappeared.

"You're next, big guy," Jack prompted with a pleased grin and a tap on Teal'c's shoulder. The Jaffa grabbed his staff weapon tighter and followed in Sam's track, conjuring up the emotion of stepping through the real 'gate from his mind as he approached the portal. This time he too managed to pass through on his first attempt. Without another word Jack grabbed Daniel's arm and gently shoved him towards the event horizon image.

"You sure?" Daniel asked. "I could go last if you want. You did say opposite order."

"Just go, Daniel. I'll be right behind you."

Daniel nodded and stepped through the illusion, leaving Jack alone in the underground room. He delayed for a moment, revolving slowly in one spot to check that they hadn't left anything behind. Then he turned to the fake puddle in the wall and pointed his flashlight at it. He brought Daniel's advice to mind and thought of Earth. _There's no place like home. _To his relief his first try was a success, and in a flash of an instant he found himself standing in the desert blinking in the bright late afternoon sun.

A few feet ahead was Daniel, knelt down to investigate a small raised stone sticking out of the sand. His eyes ached from the piercing sunlight so Jack dug in his vest pocket for his cap.

"We're not far from the canyon," Sam imparted to him as he tugged it on. "There's maybe an hour or two left until dark, so we might make it home without staying another night."

"Sweet!" Jack exclaimed and readjusted his backpack. In an onset of generosity he turned to Daniel and asked, "Ready to go, Danny?" Even if he didn't seem to, he knew very well that he far too often pulled the younger man away from his archeological finds. To Jack's surprise Daniel got to his feet at once and brushed the sand off his knees.

"Yup," he said, and continued as they set out in their habitual duck-line manner, "There's not much here anyway, the circle of stones was probably just placed there to mark the spot for arrival though the portal" Jack looked back and affirmed that the little upraised stone was in fact one in a circle, at which centre the team had appeared. _Makes sense. Wouldn't want to go through the portal and end up right on top of an unsuspecting someone. _

"I wonder why they picked that specific spot though, and not one closer to the Stargate. After all, the portal did seem to indicate that it would send us to the 'gate. Perhaps…" Daniel continued his thought process out loud, and as they walked towards the setting sun his friends listened to his ideas about the planet, the people who had lived there and their strange faith-driven transport portals.

When darkness fell Jack was disappointedly forced to declare it too risky to continue. The canyon couldn't be more than a few hundred meters ahead, but in the gloom that made details indiscernible they could easily step off the edge and get hurt. He wasn't about to jeopardize the rare occurrence of a mission where no one got hurt just to make it home a few hours early.

"We'll just get home tomorrow like planned," he said while they set up camp in the light of night vision goggles, in equal parts to cheer himself up as the other three.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was just past midnight, toward the end of Sam's watch. Perhaps she was just tired, perhaps the quiet of the planet had lulled her into a sense of security, but when the silence was broken by a soft crunch in the sand it startled her more than she thought it ought to. _It was probably just one of the boys that turned in their sleep_, she silently berated herself_._

Then she heard another crunch, and now she could clearly place it coming from a hill east of the camp. Sam snapped to attention, bringing up her weapon toward the sound and straining her eyes to see into the green-tinted shadows. She desperately hoped it wasn't trouble. _The colonel isn't going to like it if it's trouble._ Unfortunately she, and the colonel, was in for disappointment as the silhouette of a man appeared atop of the hill. As he crouching drew nearer, and was joined by several others, Sam was able to make out the familiar details of Jaffa armor.

"Colonel! Teal'c! Daniel! We've got company!"

The three men came awake in a flurry of activity, Jack and Teal'c with goggles on and ready to fire within a moment. Daniel was a little slower and as the bullets and plasma blasts began flying he was still fumbling groggily with his night vision goggles.

"To the 'gate!" Jack hollered over the noise and the four of them scrambled towards the canyon. In the process of trying to bring his pack and fire at enemies he couldn't see all at the same time, Daniel lost the grip on his goggles and they went tumbling into the sand. He dove to make a grab for them, but the searing plasma blasts from the enemies' staff weapons forced him to retreat without them.

There was no time for the rope. Teal'c descended first and caught Sam who dropped the last few meters when she climbed after him. Daniel went next. He didn't bother to tell Jack that he didn't have his goggles before he eased himself over the edge and blindly felt for a foothold. His toes found an edge, and he put his weight on it to lower himself down. Without his goggles however, he didn't see that the edge was nothing more than a thin shard. When the frail edge was faced with carrying his weight it broke, and gravity ripped him from the cliff. Time seemed to stop as he began to fall. Terrified he yelled out for Jack, who reached for his hand just a moment too late. For a fraction of a second Daniel felt suspended in the air, before the ground rushed up to meet him.

* * *

Daniel's sudden disappearance below the cliff edge hit Jack like a punch in the gut. _Why does it always have to be him?_ Jack ambled down the cliff wall as quickly as he could, immediately sinking knee deep in the sand at the bottom of the canyon. _At least he'll have had a soft landing_.

Daniel lay where he had fallen, obviously unconscious. To Jack's eyes he seemed to float on top of the sand, his back in a slight arch. _Probably a trick of the eyes, adrenalin, and the night vision. Makes it hard to see clearly. _Jack's eyes flitted to the canyon ridge, surprised to see that the enemy Jaffa weren't already climbing down after them. He assumed they wouldn't be far behind though, and thus every second counted.

"Carter," he barked."Check Daniel over and get him on his feet. We need to keep moving. The Jaffa will be down here any minute, unless they're gonna try to cut us off at the 'gate. Either way we need to hustle."

Sam was already kneeling down by Daniel's side, running through the motions that were far too familiar to all of them. _Second time in one day. Damn it, Daniel!_

"Sir…"

Jack froze; his pacing and ranting quelled by the urgent tone in Sam's voice. Their eyes met and he registered a severity in her gaze that chilled his heart.

"What?" His tone was sharp, but irritation was already giving way to worry. He never got used to that feeling, regardless of – or precisely because of – how many times he'd experienced it in connection to that infernally clumsy geek. Sam hesitated before answering, making the churning in his stomach rev up yet another level. _This can't be good._

"I don't think he'll be able to get up, sir. I think his back is hurt. He landed on an exposed rock."

Jack bit back the flood of expletives gathering in his mind, and settled for a remotely reasonable tone as he spoke again.

"We need to get out of here. Can we move him?"

"Preferably not…" Sam silenced when she saw the look in the colonel's eyes. Not moving Daniel wasn't really an option, it said. Jack wasn't actually asking _if_ but rather _how_. "We need to be careful not to disturb his spine; if we dislodge it we could make the injury worse." She thought for a moment. "Maybe we can make a travois to transport him on."

"What's a trawya?"

"A _travois_ – it's a sled-like construction used to transport heavy loads, by Native Americans for instance."

"Now we're talking. How do we make this tra…sled-thingy?"

"Well, if we had two staff weapons we could use them as poles and make a bed out of our jackets."

"Good. Do we have two staff weapons?"

"Ehm… no…"

"What _have_ we got then?" After their trip through irritation and worry Jack's emotions were now arriving at exasperation. _Why is it never easy?!_

"As a matter of fact we do have two staff weapons." Teal'c's sudden but enlightening statement held a tint of amusement, only mottled by the severity of the situation. "I relived one of our attackers of his weapon during the battle."

"Way to go, Teal'c!" Jack exclaimed as his feelings made a one eighty and rushed up towards hope. With the necessary parts on hand constructing the travois didn't take long. The wide back ends of the staff weapons would prove to be excellent for sliding across the soft sand, so they positioned those ends down as they crafted a bed out of their uniform jackets and carefully placed Daniel's prone form upon it.

"Okay, Teal'c, you take Daniel's P90 instead of your staff and take point. I'll pull the sled, and Carter will cover our precious behinds."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Daniel woke to the sound of Jack's voice. At first he didn't understand why he seemed to be in lying down motion. Last thing he remembered he had crawled into his sleeping bag to get a few hours of sleep before returning to Earth in the morning. _Maybe I'm dreaming._ With an effort he pried open his eyelids and stared disorientedly into the star-speckled sky.

"Seriously, Daniel, I don't think I've ever even _heard_ of anyone with as monumentally bad luck as you!"

The latest installment of Jack's rant brought back the night's events to Daniel's hazy mind. The panicked awakening at Sam's shout, the loss of his night vision goggles, and the fall off the cliff. He didn't remember landing, so he assumed that he must have blacked out on impact.

"And it would have to be you to manage to hit the only hard spot in this sandpit of a canyon. Can't we ever just have one nice little mission where no one gets hurt?!"

"Jack…" Daniel's voice was a weak whimper, and as such it had the same chance as a snowball in hell to halt the colonel's tirade. Daniel gave up and decided to try orienting himself instead. Turning his head left and right he caught a tilted glimpse of the canyon walls gliding by. The foggy confusion in his head reluctantly gave up some more ground as he made sense of what he saw. _They must have me on a gurney or a sled of some kind. And judging from Jack's huffing and puffing, he's pulling it._

He tried to move his hands to examine the means of his transportation, but found himself stuck. His sensitive fingertips recognized the texture of the strong climbing rope they'd used to get up the cliff when they arrived on the planet. It appeared to be wrapped in consecutive loops around his torso, firmly fixating him to the sled.

Panic grabbed at his heart, but reason told him that if they'd been captured Jack would probably not have been allowed to go on ranting the way he did. _The ropes must just be to make sure I don't fall off. Besides, there isn't any Jaffa around_._ Of course, they could be out of sight in the darkness_, he remedied the thought, but as he looked around he could only manage to discern a single figure wading through the deep sand behind the sled.

After watching it for a while he recognized the gait; the figure was Sam and her movements told him that she was guarding the rear of the party against pursuit. _Safe for the moment. _One worry soothed, his mind turned to another. _How badly hurt am I? Can't be too bad, _he reasoned,_ I can't feel any pain. It's just a little heavy to breath, but that could be 'cause of the rope wound so tight around my chest, right…_

* * *

With her night vision goggles intact Sam's sight was better than Daniel's, and when she caught the movement of his head she knew he was awake. She struggled to catch up with the travois, and leaned in close enough for him to see her face – or at least the part of her face that wasn't covered by the goggles.

"We'll be home soon, Daniel," she said to soothe the worry in his eyes, partly glad that most of her face was hidden and all he might be able to see was the smile she forced onto her lips. Her eyes would surely have betrayed the worry festering in her own heart. Hopefully he hadn't noticed yet, but she knew what it meant if his back was as severely injured as she suspected.

The team came to an abrupt stop as Teal'c held his hand up in a signal for the others to halt. Sam immediately tore herself from Daniel's side and panned her weapon around behind them for threats. Satisfied that their backs were still safe, she joined her alien friend in front of their two presently defenseless teammates.

She spotted what had attracted his attention at once; a group of five Jaffa positioned on the relatively steady ground of the Stargate-platform, evidently just waiting for them to make a bid for the 'gate.

"Have they seen us?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"I do not believe so, SamanthaCarter. Jaffa eyesight is good, but Tauri night vision goggles are superior in range. We hold the advantage at the moment."

Having assessed the situation, they both retreated to Jack who was waiting impatiently a few steps behind. Hanging back and letting others do the work was not usually his kind of command style, but he had put himself in that position in taking the responsibility of dragging Daniel onto himself. _Good thing I have a team I can trust to do the job as well as me._

"We've got five hostiles at the 'gate, sir" Sam reported. "They probably haven't seen us, so we still have the element of surprise. If we time it right we should be able to take them out without any real fight; providing there aren't more hiding nearby."

"Alright. You and Teal'c circle round on each flank. I'll approach from the center of the canyon and draw their attention. We'll attack simultaneously on my signal. When we've taken them out you dial it up while I get Daniel, and then – we're nearly there."

Teal'c and Sam nodded their agreement and moved off in opposite directions to take up their positions. Meanwhile Jack carefully placed the travois with Daniel on the ground, and pulling off his goggles he moved in close to his face.

"Just hang tight, pal," he said in a soft low voice, accompanied with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "We'll have you home in just a minute and hand you over to Fraiser to prod and poke."

Daniel just nodded, obviously a little confused but as intended reassured by the sound of his friend's voice. _Probably better anyways_, Jack thought and grabbed his P90, leaving Daniel in the relative security provided by the dark blanket of night.

With his goggles back on Jack gazed out into the darkness, and saw that Sam and Teal'c had found their way to either side of the gate. Just like they'd planned the Jaffa still didn't seem to have noticed them. With a pleased nod to himself Jack began to set into motion the plan, certain that each member of his team would play their parts without a glitch. The only thing putting a small cloud on his shiny prognosis was the experience of their luck being less than exemplary, as proven by the night so far. _Well, here goes nothing._

Jack rose from his crouched position and approached the Stargate-platform in a deceptively relaxed stroll, or as close to a relaxed stroll as the sand permitted. It wasn't long before the Jaffa spotted him and rushed to level their staff weapons in his direction.

"Howdy!" he hooted and waved to them. As always the alien warriors failed to pick up on the humor in his voice, a so frequent occurrence that Jack seriously suspected the Jaffa as a race was comedic challenged.

"Kree!" yelled the one who obviously was their leader. His voice was hard as steel, conveying that this particular "Kree" probably meant something along the lines of "Drop your weapon and surrender, or die". Jack took it as his cue, and without further ado he brought up his weapon, dropping to one knee as he let loose a barrage of bullets on the Jaffa. His quick motion was the signal that Teal'c and Sam had been waiting for, and before the Jaffa knew what hit them they were caught in a deadly crossfire. Seconds after the firefight started it was over, and five Jaffa lay dead in the sand.

Savoring their luck of the first stage of their plan for once going off without a hitch, SG-1 hurried to the next stage. Sam rushed to the DHD and while Teal'c kept an eye out for enemy reinforcements she punched in the address for Earth. Just minutes later Jack dragged the travois through the blue puddle, closely followed by his two walking teammates. After the nights events the cold gray walls of the gate-room was a heartwarming sight to all of them. _There's no place like home_, Jack thought with relief.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Doctor Janet Fraiser met them at the foot of the ramp in the gate-room, a gurney of her own standing by less than three feet behind her. Sam hurried around the men of the team to intercept the good doctor and whisper in her ear the things she was afraid to let Daniel hear just yet. As the hushed conversation progressed, the whole room could observe the severity on Janet's face deepen. Then she took charge and ordered orderlies and officers alike with that certain tone of voice they all by experience knew she reserved for the most urgent of situations. Even through the haze in his head Daniel could hear and identify it, beginning to make some horrifying connections as he failed to assist when the nurses transferred him to the rolling gurney.

Janet rushed Daniel through the halls of the SGC, people jumping out of the way with alarm instantly flashing across each face they passed. Their first stop was the x-ray room where she took plate after plate of his midsection, before they headed for the infirmary. While Janet went to get the pictures developed a couple of nurses carefully got Daniel cleaned off and into a hospital gown. He could feel their worry like an almost physical presence in the air, and while their concern warmed his heart he couldn't bear the barely hidden compassion in their eyes. He knew they, just like he, suspected what was the matter with him. _Silent nurses always mean it's bad._

When Janet finally entered with the results of the x-rays in her hand, it was a relief. Daniel knew he could always trust her to be straight with him.

"Daniel," she started, while folding the blanket away from his feet. He desperately tried to ignore the fact that only his eyes told him she was doing it. "Tell me if you can feel this." She shielded his view and ran an instrument under his foot. At least that was what he thought she did, because he couldn't feel a thing.

In the moments it took Janet to tuck Daniel's legs in again she assiduously avoided his eyes, futilely postponing the moment when she had to look him in the face and tell him what she was almost certain he had already guessed. With a resigned sigh – the legs couldn't get any snugger – she moved in closer to the side of the bed and grabbed his hand. The reflexive squeeze he gave her was a pale comfort; at least the injury wasn't that far up on his back.

"Daniel, there's no good way to say this."

"Just say it, Janet."

His voice still held an ounce of hope, a testament to his unmoving optimism. She had seen the diagnosis she was about to give him break a plenty of seasoned and brave soldiers. Over the last seven years she had also witnessed Daniel go through a great deal that had had repeatedly tested his optimism to its limits, but through it all it had still held. _I really hope this isn't the thing that could actually be the death of it._

"The x-rays show fractures on your second and third lumbar vertebrae. The lack of sensory response in your lower extremities also indicates that the dislocated discs have caused severe nerve damage. We can use surgery to stabilize your spine and you will have to wear a back brace for a while, but…"

Daniel closed his eyes, the implications of Janet's words cementing in his mind what he had feared and wildly hoped against. Biting his lip to contain his emotions he let his head fall back onto the pillow as Janet forced out the final words.

"…the best we can hope for is no further complications."

Daniel said nothing. He could say nothing. It took all of his strength to not scream out loud. He didn't dare to open his eyes else the tears burning behind his eyelids might burst out like a geyser eruption. The raging of his emotions was a roar pounding in his ears with each beat of his heart. He only vaguely noticed when Janet's hand left his and she drew the curtains around his bed to give him some peace. His thoughts were too loud to let him really take in anything else.

_My back is broken. Broken! I'm never going to walk again. No walking means no chance in hell of ever going through the Stargate again. Fighting the Goa'uld isn't really an occupation that lends itself to disability adaption. Neither is my second – or technically first – choice of occupation: archaeology._ _I might be able to get some work, but not in the field. I'm never going to get to explore an old temple somewhere deep in the wildest regions of Earth again._ _Perhaps I could work at a museum_ _– ha! – who's going to hire the laughing stock of the archaeological community? _

As Daniel contemplated the implications of his injury his entire life seemed to crumble before him. _What'll happen to the friendships I've made on the base if I leave the SGC?_ Cheyenne Mountain was the first place he'd felt at home since his parents died. The first place on Earth he had felt like he belonged. _And what if I wanted to stay, would they let me? I guess I am the expert on a lot of things around here…but they did manage without me for a whole year. And what about living with Jack…?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

When Jack had asked him to move in Daniel hadn't quite known what to expect. Jack was his best friend, the best friend he'd ever had, but they were still very different. He had suspected living together might not prove to be as easy as it seemed. It had turned out Jack was going to go to some length to make him feel at home. He had even prepared a room for him.

"Used to be the guestroom," Jack had said. "But it's mostly you who've ever stayed there anyway so... Do you remember that?"

Daniel remembered, and even more so the more time he spent in the room. It already had an air of him that clearly separated it from the rest of Jack's house. For instance was one whole wall occupied by a huge bookshelf, already half-filled with ancient books and books on ancient things. It wasn't that Jack didn't read, but he didn't read those kinds of books.

"They're yours," Jack had explained in response to his questioning eyes. "I brought some of them here when you…ehm…died," he finished with a slightly apologetic look.

"Thank you." Daniel hadn't known what else to say. He was moved, especially since he knew that Jack wasn't one for sentimentality. It wasn't like his friends had gotten rid of his stuff when he…_yeah_…died. They'd told him they had put most of it in storage in case he somehow would come back, but Jack bringing his books to his home said something about how much he had missed him.

Daniel had quickly made the room even more his own by getting some of his antique furniture and artifacts out of the storage. He was getting to feel at home and even if he wasn't used to sharing a home with someone, most of the time it was nice to not be alone. On their rare nights off-base he and Jack now always hung out, getting to know each other better and in whole new ways.

They already did know each other well of course, intimately familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses and well-versed in what the other's interests were. Uncountable nights off-world around the campfire and tragically equally uncountable close brushes with death will do that to people. Now however, for better or worse, they shared the life back on Earth as well, and not even the team's movie nights could compare to that.

Jack and Daniel found their first dilemma in sharing a home on their very first night in front of the TV; the timetable clash of a hockey match and a historical documentary on National Geographic.

"Can't you could tape the documentary?" Jack had said with an air of blatancy that infuriated Daniel, as it rimed so well with Jack's constant disinterest and brushing away of most anything that interested him.

"Or you could tape the hockey game," he shot back, not attempting to hide his feelings as he glared at Jack. The anger in his eyes had taken Jack aback, and for once it was Jack who attempted to be the reasonable one as he tried to explain why he needed to see the game.

"It's live. And I have a bet on it with Siler. I need to know if I should be demanding my money or avoiding him tomorrow."

In the end Daniel had agreed to record the documentary to watch it later, and fetched a book to read instead. Jack's logic was valid, but Daniel had no intention of torturing himself through watching the game with him. Sports had never been a very big interest in his life.

To his own surprise half an hour later, Daniel found himself not reading his book but actually engrossed in the hockey game. Jack's enthusiastic spectator style probably had something to do with it. Above all else it made it all but impossible for Daniel to concentrate on the book, and consequently he decided to put it down and give the game a chance.

Jack was excited to see him interested and gladly answered all of Daniel's questions, explaining everything from rules to equipment to his personal favorite players. As with everything Daniel turned his attention to his thirst for knowledge was insatiable.

"You sure have a lot of questions for someone who's not interested in sports," Jack joked with his patented sardonic tone of voice, a pleased smirk playing on his lips.

"Just figured if I'm stuck watching the stuff at least I should understand it," Daniel retorted in a matching tone.

With the watching of the hockey game having proved to be such a success, it occurred to Jack that Daniel should try another level of involvement in his interests. He brought the subject up the very next day on their drive in to Cheyenne Mountain.

"Hey, Daniel!"

Daniel pulled himself from his slumber against the car door window.

"Yes, Jack," he yawned.

"You know me and Siler and a few others get together sometimes for a friendly game of hockey?"

"Yeah…" _Where's this going?_

"Well, unless something horrible happens before Thursday, we've got a game planned. You should join us."

"I don't know…my skills are like my interest when it comes to sports."

"Good. I'll sign you up then," Jack grinned.

"Wait a minute," Daniel protested, sitting up straighter in the car seat. "I did not say I would do it."

"You sort of did."

"How so?" Daniel's voice was laced with indignation.

"Well, since your skills are like your interest, and you just discovered yesterday that you actually are interested in hockey, your skills must just be hitherto undiscovered." Jack practically beamed with self-pride and Daniel gave him a frustrated huff. As annoying and ridiculous as Jack's argument was, it did make sense.

"Fine," he finally acquiesced with a sigh. "I'll give it one chance. But you better wipe that grin off your face or I'll change my mind. And stop puffing yourself up like a proud peacock; you might just explode. Then who is going to torment me with hockey games, and distract me from important interstellar discoveries with silly military objectives?"

"You're right!" Jack exclaimed with feigned horror, and with exaggerated care schooled his facial expression as they pulled up to the gate outside the mountain. Daniel found it hard not to laugh at the slight confusion of the guard as he was faced with an overly severe Colonel O'Neill. _It's good most people around here know him, or we might not make it through the checkpoint one of these days._

Thursday came, and for once the world hadn't ended, so Jack and Daniel met up with the rest of the SGC hockey enthusiasts at the Cadet Ice Arena outside Colorado Springs. Jack had scared up a pair of skates for Daniel to borrow, and he even helped him lace them up. Daniel however, who had alternated all week between forgetting and denying his promise, still had one rather big hurdle to overcome before he could join the game.

"Uhm, Jack…" he began as Jack tied the last knot on his skates.

"Yeah, Danny?" It always reminded Daniel of his parents when Jack called him that – _in a good way_. It made him feel like they were really a family; something he valued above everything else.

"You know, I don't think this is such a good idea."

Jack's head snapped up.

"No, no. No backing out. You said you'd give it a try."

"There's just…one small problem…" Daniel felt his cheeks heat and diverted his eyes to his knees. "I don't actually know how to skate."

"That's alright. I figured that might be the case, with how much time you've spent in countries that don't regularly get chilly enough for ice. So, we'll just start out slow with the basics and you can join the game if and when you feel ready for it."

Daniel's heart warmed with gratitude. He knew he shouldn't be so surprised at Jack's care for him, but as paradigmatically altering as it was his time with the man only represented a relatively small part of Daniel's life. The majority of his experiences were with people whose patience with him had been little to none. He constantly had to remind himself that things were different with Jack – _and most of the people at the SGC in fact_. The memories that confirmed this were the ones he really enjoyed regaining those first weeks back on Earth in human form; the ones that made him think it was good to remember. _I'm glad I decided to come home. To think I might have missed out on knowing my friends again. _

Jack interrupted his affectionate thoughts, "Alright, are you ready to get on the ice?"

Daniel nodded and grasped Jack's offered hand. His steady grip was a welcome support as he wobbly inched his way onto the ice, greeted with encouraging hoots from the SGC-personnel already there.

Jack was a good teacher, something Daniel already knew from hours with him on the shooting range. If someone had told him eight years ago that Jack would turn him from pacifistic archeologist to gun toting adventurer he wouldn't have believed it, and he still doubted anyone but Jack would have succeeded.

By the end of his first skating lesson ever, Daniel's wobbly legs had steadied to the point where he could make his way around the rink without Jack by his side. He felt pretty good about himself. Unfortunately there was one – kind of major – part about the whole adventure he really didn't like. _Jack was right._ He did enjoy skating, but now Daniel would have to admit it to Jack. _I'll never hear the end of it_.

Jack was just as graceful as Daniel had expected about his 'victory'. He had been quiet the entire way home in the car, just smiling smugly in Daniel's direction whenever he could take his eyes off the road. The wretched anticipation in the pit of Daniel's stomach had plenty of time to fester and grate at his nerves, until he finally couldn't take it any longer.

In an almost whine he burst out, "Yes, Jack, yes, it was fun."

Jack's grin got even wider. He threw up a victory punch in the air and said the words he'd obviously been waiting to utter:

"I told you so!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sam slunk though the door to the infirmary with an almost guilty look on her face, something roughly palm-sized held tightly against her chest. She immediately spotted Daniel in the farthest bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling. It had been three days since they returned from PQX-830 and Daniel was still lying more or less immobilized in his bed. It was a necessary precaution to keep him from causing additional damage to his spine or surrounding tissue before it had a chance to heal a bit. On further consideration Janet had decided not to rush him into surgery. Sam had been there when she came to tell Daniel it wouldn't be necessary, explaining that the pieces of his broken spine didn't pose any risk of complications.

"Just that comfy-sounding back brace to look forward to then," Daniel had replied with cold detachment in his voice.

Sam was surprised to not see Jack at Daniel's side, a fact that was equally – and painfully – clear to Daniel. Jack had in fact only been to visit him once since they came home. _Of course…I was pretty rude._

* * *

Jack had been by Daniel's side as soon as Janet would allow it, the ever vigilantly hovering hen mother watching over her wounded chick. Usually his company was a comfort to Daniel. His presence was a representation of family that he'd never had as a child but somehow had finally found as an adult at the SGC. That first night after PQX-830 however he would rather have been alone. The aftermath of Janet's diagnosis still had him in a teetering emotional state. Even after everything he'd shared with Jack he could never get quite comfortable with allowing his feelings to show, and tonight he was all full of feelings. Despair bubbled in him like a witch's cauldron, mingling with anger and sadness to a churning mess that threatened to drown him dry. Keeping it in just made him feel worse, and he desperately wished Jack would just go away so he could wallow in his misery in peace.

At first Jack had tried to joke, baiting Daniel for a bout of banter. It usually did the trick of lifting the spirits when one of them was stuck in the infirmary. Failing to get any response he had tried with a different sure conversations starter card, and asked about the ancient civilization they'd discovered on PQX-830. He even went as far as offering to smuggle in a monitor and Daniel's tape from the underground room, but all he got was a non-committal:

"Nah, I should probably try to get some rest."

That shut Jack up for a while. _Nothing left in the bag of tricks to cheer Mr. Klutz up_, Daniel thought and lay silently staring at the dimmed lights in the ceiling. _Not much else to do when you can't move half of your body and aren't allowed to move the rest._ A streak of icy bitterness was slowly joining the stormy concoction of emotion in his heart.

Jack could tell Daniel wasn't really resting. Making a qualified guess to the direction of his thoughts, he once more racked his storages of topics that might steer his friend away from their destructive path. He was out of the sure-fire ones, but then again none of them had worked. Instead he latched onto the last good time they'd shared on the skating rink and the nearby topic of hockey. _Maybe I can get him started on that banter anyway._

"You know, there's a game on tonight." He could practically feel Daniel sigh, but powered on in hope regardless. "To bad we're stuck here and are missing it. You want me to do the 'smuggling in a monitor'-trick so we can watch it?"

He heard the sigh this time, an angry puff of air escaping Daniel's lips as he turned his head to look at him. The blue eyes were ablaze with fury, not unlike the way they would burn when he was about to correct Jack on a matter of humanity or value of ancient artifacts. They held coldness too, the likes of which Jack had never seen in the man before. A coldness that seeped into his voice as he opened his mouth to speak, making each word that came out hard as steel.

"I'm sorry you're missing your precious hockey. Had I known there was a game on tonight I wouldn't have BROKEN MY BACK! And speaking of hockey, I won't be much use as a recruit for your team seeing as I'm _never _going to walk again."

"Daniel..." There was pain in Jack's voice, but Daniel's own agony made him numb to hear it.

"Go away, Jack. Just... Go!"

Jack reluctantly rose from his seat at the side of the bed. He searched for something to say, but out of the two of them he was not the one skilled with words. He started to put his hand on Daniel's arm but every inch of the younger man's body screamed that he would have turned away if he could. Admitting defeat Jack retreated out the door, silently vowing to find a way to help his friend.

* * *

Daniel didn't seem to notice Sam as she made her way across the infirmary room and stopped a few yards from his bed. For a moment she just stood and regarded him, the object in her hand momentarily forgotten at the heartbreaking sight before her.

Daniel's eyes, fixed on the concrete ceiling, held a strange look; something so utterly defeated that in Sam's meaning it didn't belong there. She couldn't remember ever seeing him like this. The look on his face was silently pronouncing that he'd completely given up. Daniel never gave up. _Not in the face of defeat, not even in death, never, he just … doesn't give up._ After all the horrible things he'd seen, all that he had lost, he still struggled on with a sparkle of hope in his eyes. The only time she'd seen him near to this despondent was when he was dying from radiation after the incident on Langara – but even then he had found a way out. Daniel's perseverance was one of the things she admired most in him, and now it was as if it had simply disappeared.

"Daniel?" she breathed, unable to suppress the tremor of emotion in her voice.

He turned his head and smiled at her, like he always did, but just like the sparkle of hope in his eyes the usual brightness of the smile seemed to have been snuffed out. When Jack had approached her with his request she hadn't thought it was a good idea. She had lingered on the same idea herself, but had dismissed it because of the risk. However, seeing Daniel like this she understood where Jack had been coming from, and like him she felt an almost desperate need for anything that might help.

"I guess you're sick of 'how are you'?" she tried to joke, and was rewarded with another not-quite-sincere smile.

Even in his defeated state Daniel was perceptive as few, and his quick eyes immediately noticed the object in her hand.

"Brought me a present?"

Hesitantly she brought the object up for him to see, revealing the red and gold of a Goa'uld healing device.

"I know it didn't go very well last time I tried using this on you…"

Daniel held his hand up to halt her excuses.

"Hey, that wasn't your fault, remember. Janet told me – she keeps telling you – I might have crashed anyway."

"I know…but… Either way, I thought maybe we could give it try. If you dare let me?" She gave him a crooked smile.

"Well, I guess I can't get any worse." The smile was still on Daniel's lips but the dejection in his eyes leaked into his voice. It gave it a bitter tinge that sat as well in Sam's ears as nails on a chalkboard. She forced herself to keep smiling.

"Just for safety I should get Janet here, in case something goes wrong."

Daniel nodded his agreement. As much as he felt like he didn't care, he wasn't stupid. It was only common sense to not attempt a medical procedure, even an alien one, without a doctor present.

When Sam went to fetch the base's resident health enforcer, Daniel felt something stir in his chest. Despite his best attempts to beat it down, Sam's offer had reignited that rebellious spark of hope in his heart. He tried to tell himself to be prepared for the healing not to work, but he couldn't help his optimistic nature bubbling alive again.

Janet's eyes were, if possible, even faster on the uptake than Daniel's. As soon as she came up to the side of the bed she spotted the healing device that Sam had left in Daniel's lap.

"Are you crazy?!" she exclaimed. "No! That's the answer; No! No, I will not allow this."

"Janet." Daniel's voice was soft but determined. "We aren't asking permission. I want Sam to do this – but I want you to be here to keep an eye on things. Just in case."

"Daniel, I know you're having a hard time adjusting to your new situation, but we don't really know what we're dabbling with when it comes to that thing." Seeing her pleading words had no effect on him she turned to Sam instead. "Don't you remember what happened last time you tried this, Sam?"

"I know, but…"

"My mind is made up." Daniel interrupted Sam, directing his words to Janet. "Are you going to help or not?"

Janet refocused her effort on deferring Sam from the idea. _Without her it doesn't matter how much he wants it._

"Maybe if your father and Selmak could…"

Sam shook her head.

"I've called him. He can't get away."

"What about another Tok'ra?"

Another headshake.

"They say they can't send anyone." _Or don't want to. Inconsiderate bastards._ Despite the Tok'ra claiming to be friends of Earth, and her own father being one of them, they seldom seemed to care very much for helping out unless they had anything to gain.

Janet sighed with resignation. However unnecessary and risky she thought this attempt was Daniel seemed decided. Knowing they would probably be going through with it with or without her, there was no way she would walk away without doing what she could to help.

Calling for a nurse to help her she began hooking Daniel up to the monitors and readying any and all machines and tools she could think of needing if this went horribly wrong. When the contacts had been applied and the squiggly line on the heart monitor showed Daniel's steady heartbeat, she gave a reluctant nod to Sam that she could begin.

Sam closed her eyes, and sliding her hand under the handle on the healing device she sent a silent prayer to any real god that may still exist in the universe.

The power from the Goa'uld device instantly coursed through her veins on the naquada left there by Jolinar. As she positioned her hands over Daniel's midsection she could feel the damage to his spine; the cracked vertebrae, the shredded nerves, the bruised muscles. _Such a small, localized injury, but still so devastating to the function of his body._ She focused on the nerves and envisioned them knitting back together.

Though the work was wholly mental, it was physically straining and made the sweat break forth on her brow. As her focus tunnel-visioned on the image of Daniel's spine in her mind everything else muted away. The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor became as distant as the call of a fog horn in the dusk. Janet and the nurses became invisible, immaterial presences at the edge of perception.

To Janet it was an agonizing wait, measuring the moments in each rise and fall of the line on the monitor. She searched Daniel's face and saw that he was biting his lip to contain an outburst of pain. With the readouts of her machines and the reassurance in his eyes as her only guidelines she attempted to conclude whether it was the pain of healing or harm. His pulse had hastened a bit, but it was still steady so she gambled and put her money on healing. To her greater dismay she could also tell that the procedure was straining Sam, but without understanding of how the healing device actually worked she was reluctant to interrupt. _I really hope this doesn't just land me with two of my best friends as patients instead of one._

The last of the ragged nerve-endings melded into each other and Sam turned her attention to the bones, attempting to realign and reattach the broken pieces. This seemed harder to do; her concentration slowly slipping in pace with the taxing of her strength. She vaguely felt her body begin to shake from exhaustion, but bit her lip and tried to go on. She blinked her mental eye, tried to regain her focus, but she was quickly realizing she wouldn't be able to regain the level of control she needed to finish. Gathering up her last strength she forced the broken pieces of bone into the right position to heal, before she sank unconscious to the floor beside Daniel's bed.

When Daniel cried in pain at the very same moment as Sam collapsed on the floor, Janet was torn between her concerns. As an experienced commanding medical officer she rapidly made the choice of triage.

"Evans, take care of the major" she ordered one of her nurses while she bent over Daniel to examine him. He was still awake – _a good sign_ – and the sudden pain seemed to have subsided.

"How do you feel?" Janet asked.

"I'm okay." He appeared a bit out of breath, but that wasn't unexpected since the healing had caused him some pain all the way through. Apprehensively she folded back the cover from his feet, bringing to both their minds the memory of three days ago when she'd had to tell him he would never walk again. She read the question on her own mind in his eyes. _Will this be anything more than a replay of that?_

She ran a finger under his foot, tickling the reflexes for a response no earthly medicine could possibly have returned to him. The twitch was so slight she almost took it for wishful thinking, but the gasp from the head of the bed was more than enough confirmation of its fact.

"Do it again," he urged her, as if he too doubted the reality of the nerve signals getting through. Since another confirmation wouldn't hurt, Janet gladly obliged and ran her finger across the sole of his foot again. This time she saw the reflexive spasm clearly, and encouraged she proceeded to poke and tickle different parts of Daniel's feet and legs to test the response of different nerves. At each touch she was rewarded with Daniel's smile, which was slowly but steadily regaining its bright genuinity. Finally she felt assured enough to give her verdict on the success of the procedure.

"It seems that you have regained full sensory capability. I can't say how far the healing goes concerning your motor functions, though. That will take some more testing, but the improvements are a good sign."

With a pat on Daniel's arm she turned to her other patient, whom the nurses had lifted onto the neighboring bed. Sam was still unconscious, but the nurses' calm movements told Janet that was most likely all there was to it. Seeing the doctor's investigative look, Lieutenant Evans reported.

"She just passed out, ma'am. Pulse and breathing are steady. Most likely just exhaustion."

"Good. Keep monitoring her." Janet turned to the other nurse. "Samuels, help me get Dr. Jackson to the MRI for an x-ray." _Better just get started on those additional tests at once._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

When Daniel returned to the infirmary Sam was awake, sitting up in her bed and eating a cup of her favorite blue Jell-O. The nurses had told her she needed to rest, but only their assurances that Janet would be back with Daniel soon had kept her where she was. When her friend was wheeled in on his bed she immediately saw the change in his demeanor. His tense shoulders had visibly relaxed, and that sparkle in his eyes was back. When he met her scrutinizing gaze his face lit up with a smile that was once again as genuine and bright as she was accustomed to.

"Way to go Sam," he proclaimed as Janet and the nurse positioned his bed back beside hers. "Janet says you most likely managed to heal all the nerve damage and that you fixed the vertebrae back into position."

"I didn't manage to heal them though," she responded with an apologetic demi smile. Daniel wasn't disheartened but continued excitedly.

"But now that it's in position it can heal on its own. Right, Janet? And I'll be fine, I will walk again!"

Janet placed a hand on his arm, attempting to bring him back to Earth.

"It does look good, Daniel. You should regain some of your movement soon and with hard work in physical therapy you might be able to walk again. I won't make any guaranties, but I am hopeful."

"Bah, doctor-speak!" Daniel's outburst sounded so much like Jack that Sam couldn't suppress a reflexive glance towards the infirmary room door. Jack wasn't there. Turning back to Daniel she decided to ask the thing she had wondered ever since she entered the infirmary earlier.

"Daniel, where is Jack?"

She regretted the words as soon as they passed her lips, because her question put out the light in Daniel's face again – even if not so wholly as before the healing session.

"I don't know," he answered with a sullen tone.

"Hasn't he been to visit you? It's usually impossible to tear him from your side when you're laid up in here."

"He did, but we…we had a…well, actually _I_…I yelled at him."

"What happened?"

"It was the first night when we got home. I was tired and…well, I told him to go away. Guess he did as I asked for once." The last words were low and bitter, and he ducked his head down to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. _Never thought I'd be upset that he listened to me_.

"That's weird. It's not like him to hold a grudge like that. Not against friends at least." Sam's poor attempt at a joke fell flat, so she just continued, "When he came to see me this morning I just assumed he had torn himself away from your side to come ask me to use the healing device."

Daniel's head whipped up, and his voice echoed of astonishment. "Jack asked you to do it?"

He hardly knew what to do with the bomb shell information that the healing device had been Jack's idea. In his depressed mind he had assumed that Jack had actually just gone home to watch his hockey game and forgot about him. The bitterness over his situation had brought the slumbering abandonment issues up from the depths of his soul where he had at long last managed to banish them. With their malicious insinuations they had convinced him that Jack had finally done what everyone always did and discarded him when he finally proved to give more trouble than gain. In the darkest recesses of his mind he hadn't expected to ever see Jack again. He definitely hadn't expected him to be convincing Sam to try and use the Goa'uld healing device on him.

"Yes," Sam answered his astounded question with obviousness in her own voice. "He came blazing into my lab early this morning like his pants were on fire and practically begged me to try using the healing device. I had thought of it, but dismissed it because of what happened last time. When he had convinced me to do it anyway he rushed off again. Where did he go, if he didn't go here?"

"Well, wouldn't you want to know?" The sardonic comment came from the door, making two geeky heads snap round to it. This time Jack was there, and he strolled into the infirmary with a rather pleased look on his face.

"Hi there, Danny." His voice was warm and friendly, as if their spat three days ago had never even happened.

"Hi." Daniel echoed. "Jack, I'm sorry…"

"Asch, forget it." Jack waved his apology away and plopped down in an available chair between Daniel's and Sam's beds."I'm just glad to see you're feeling better." He turned to Sam with his eyebrows pointedly lifted." Did you…?"

"Yes, Jack," Daniel answered before Sam had a chance, bringing the colonel's head around to him instead.

"And?"

"She fixed the nerves and the bones should heal on their own, so Janet is 'hopeful'." Daniel made air quotation marks to the last word, efficiently communicating his feelings about their dear doctor's hesitation to say he was going to be fine.

"So, when do you think she'll be letting you out of here?"

"I don't know, she hasn't said yet, but she did say I still need some kind of back brace so I guess it won't be until that is fixed. And I suppose I'll need a wheelchair too, at least to start with."

Jack nodded. Then he bounced out of his chair and set off toward Dr. Fraiser's office.

"Knock, knock!" he called in through the open door.

"Come in, Colonel O'Neill. What can I do for you?" Janet put down her pen and smiled at him.

"I just wanted to check on your prognosis for Daniel. You know; when I can take him home and what I need to know to help him with his recovery."

Janet smiled even wider at the fatherly intonations in his questions.

"Health-wise I could release him today but there are some practical aspects to arrange. With injuries like his we need a back brace to keep the spine stabilized in order for it to heal correctly, and we planned to mold and fit that for Daniel tomorrow. I've also sent for a wheelchair that should arrive in the next few days. Should I assume he'll be staying with you for a while or is he going directly to his own place?"

Janet asked even though she assumed she knew the answer. Daniel almost always ended up staying with Jack for at least a few nights when he got more severely hurt. Jack fidgeted for a moment and when he answered the response took her a bit by surprise.

"Ah, well…actually he already lives at my house. And I've been there and fixed a few ramps to help with the getting around. I just need to know if there is anything else that needs to be done?"

Janet was stumped. She didn't know which part was most unexpected, that Daniel had moved in with Jack or that Jack already had started making adaptations to the house to accommodate his new needs. The way he took care of Daniel wasn't unexpected, it wasn't exactly the first time he had opened his home for the archaeologist. He never made a big deal out of it either. But the fact that they'd kept it a secret this time told Janet there was something more going on. She wanted to ask Jack about it, but the way he had reluctantly ground out the admission made her think it wasn't something he wasn't particularly keen on discussing. _Maybe another time. Or I could talk to Daniel. He is at least a bit more of the sharing type than the colonel._ She tore herself back to reply to Jack's question.

"He'll need a lot of help in the beginning. The back brace will stabilize his back so he can move around, but it'll also constrict his agility. He'll still need a lot of rest in a good bed and space to do the physical exercises the therapist will give him. He'll be meeting with her as well sometime in the next few days."

"Alright, I think his bed is pretty good; big and comfy." Janet nodded her approval, and he continued, "I have a gym, so exercises won't be a problem."

"In that case I suppose I'd say…you can bring him home the day after tomorrow."

Jack nodded and turned to return to Daniel, but just as he was about to leave Janet called him back.

"Colonel, I know Daniel is very excited right now about his back being better, but he's still a long way from fine. I said I am hopeful about his prognosis, but I can't guarantee he'll get full functionality back in his legs. You need to be prepared to be there for him when he realizes how much work he's got in front of him, and that it might not even yield the results he is hoping for."

"Yes, ma'am." Jack ripped off the affirmation with his usual derisive tone, but he understood the importance of Janet's words. When Daniel had faced the idea of not walking again, only three days ago, it hadn't been pretty. Realizing he wasn't going to be quite as 'fine' as he thought might result in a similar scenario; with him trying to push Jack away again. _Good thing I'm not that easy to get rid of then._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

When Jack came to pick Daniel up the archaeologist was still a big ray of sunshine, unbridled by the restriction of the stiff corset-like back brace around his torso. The only thing that could even begin to dampen his spirit was the fact that he was forced to rely on Jack to push him around in his wheelchair.

"You can start wheeling yourself when you've recovered a bit more," Janet admonished him when he for the tenth time attempted to assume control over the vehicle. She shot a smile in Jack's direction as they left, that said the only thing measuring up to how much she pitied him was the relief of having her most annoying patient out of the infirmary again. Daniel would be coming in for regular check-ups of course, but it was always good to see him on his way after another of his far-too-often visits to her medical realm.

As Jack steered his friend down the hall, Daniel made another grab for the wheels and Janet couldn't help but chuckle at the pair of them when Jack swatted away his hands like a scolding parent. Taking care of Daniel was a handful, whoever's lot it fell on, and she was just happy it wasn't on hers for now.

Spotting Sam down the hall also saying goodbye to the two men as they headed home, Janet recalled the riddle of them living together. _Maybe Sam knows something. _Janet had taken up the matter with Daniel but as she had feared he'd been almost as cagy about the subject as the colonel.

"Jack asked me to move in," was all he'd volunteered before clamming up and refusing to answer any more questions. In the end he had even resorted to using her own arguments against her and claimed he was too tired to talk and needed to rest. She'd given up then since she couldn't very well tell him not to rest when he actually wanted to.

"Sam!" she shouted and waved for her friend to come.

"Hi, Janet," Sam said when she reached the doctor. "I see Daniel's well enough to go home. Or did you just get sick of him and decided to let Jack handle him for a while?"

They both laughed. Even if Sam's question was in most part a joke it did hold a measure of truth. Sam knew as well as Janet what a hassle an ill Daniel could be. Sharing the good-hearted laugh on their mutual friend's expense they headed for the commissary for a bite to eat and a chance to catch up on some base-gossip.

Dinner served for the day was meatloaf and they both grabbed themselves a generous helping, Sam finishing off her tray with a cup of blue Jell-O.

"You know that stuff isn't good for you right?" Janet asked, unable to contain the doctor part of her. Sam just grinned and scoped a large chunk of Jell-O into her mouth, chewing as she followed Janet who was navigating her way to an available table in the farthest corner of the room. Having sat down Janet opened with the latest rumors of on-base romance, a nurse she'd heard was interested in one of the janitors. Being as the two of them were almost the only higher ranking women on the base they often relied on each other to share the girly pastime of tittle-tattle. The privates just didn't feel comfortable talking with them in that way. After some light talk Janet brought up the question actually on her mind.

"Sam, when I spoke to Jack about Daniel's care, he told me that Daniel was already staying at his place, before all this. Do you know anything about that? Not that there's anything wrong with it, but they both seem so secretive about it."

Sam wasn't surprised to receive this particular question, which stemmed from the same caring place as Sam's curiosity. Much to her own chagrin however, Sam was unable to give a very satisfying answer.

"I don't know much. Apparently Jack asked him to move in, but I have no idea why they've been lying about it. It's not like it's the first time Daniel has stayed there."

"No," Janet agreed, "he usually does when he can't be on his own or doesn't have a place due to his habit of appearing dead."

"I know, but this time there's definitely something else going on. They really didn't want anyone to know. I and Teal'c only found out through an accident."

"An accident?"

"Yeah. On PQX-830, we were having supper and Daniel happened to blurt it out. The colonel was real pissed about it too."

Sam scooped the last of her Jell-O in her mouth, and she and Janet continued talking as they rose to put away their trays and headed out of the commissary.

"So they didn't explain it to you?" Janet asked discouraged.

"No, the colonel shut down the conversation. He really didn't want us to know."

"Yeah, I got that impression. Daniel refused to talk about it too."

"I figured he would." Sam nodded in match with Janet's disappointed voice.

"So what is it all about? What's the big secret?"

"I have no idea, Janet."

Arriving outside the infirmary the two women gave up their fruitless speculations and parted ways to return to their respective work.

* * *

When they pulled up to the house in Jack's truck Daniel was surprised to see the three low steps up to the front door built over with a wooden ramp. Jack helped him out of the car and began wheeling him up to the entrance.

"Did you build that?"

Jack dismissed his awed question with a non-consequential, "Yup" as he swept open the door and against Janet's explicit directions allowed Daniel to guide himself in. Closing the door Jack bounced around him and into the living room where he picked up something from the sofa table.

"I taped you something," he said, practically gleaming as he held up a silvery DVD for Daniel to see.

"Jack, I don't want to see a hockey game from almost a week ago."

The colonel shook his head fiercely.

"No, no. I taped that documentary on the Incas that there was a commercial about before we left for sandbox central. I did promise you that you'd have first dibs on the TV control when we got back so you could watch it, but then you ended up still in the infirmary that night so I figured I'd tape it for you."

Jack knew that Daniel loved archaeological documentaries. He'd known it even before Daniel moved in but living together, with all the arguments over hockey game versus documentary, had made it even more evident. Most people who had met Daniel would guess correctly that Discovery Channel and National Geographic were his top picks on the TV, but Jack knew something most people didn't; exactly why he loved them so much.

It wasn't that he actually watched the documentaries like a normal person would, attentively and eager to learn. Finding a documentary that could teach Daniel anything was a near impossible task somewhere around the level of holding off an army of Jaffa one-handedly. Considering that finding one that even got the facts right according to Daniel was an almost equally unattainable goal, a fairer description of Daniel's way to watch a documentary would be to liken it to a strict teacher grading his students' inadequate papers. He constantly commented and corrected the narrative, as if marking every flawed conclusion and misrepresented fact with a red pen. If the TV-program had indeed been a paper, it would have been covered in corrections jotted in unintelligible red scribbles. Particularly since Daniel's handwriting was a completely incomprehensible mess of every single language he knew written down so fast that the pen could hardly keep up with his train of thought.

"It's worse than a doctor's," Jack had commented on it as late as last week, receiving a cheeky, "I _am_ a doctor, Jack," in reply.

Yeah, the man could sure be real snide when he wanted to. It got him in trouble with the brass sometimes, and on missions it could bug the living daylights out of Jack, but when it came to watching archaeological documentaries with him – it was hilarious.

Daniel smiled at his friend's excited documentary offering. He nodded to Jack.

"Can we watch it now?" he asked, not attempting to hide the small kid shining through.

Jack matched his nod and smile, waving him into the living room while turning to put the DVD in the machine. Daniel rolled into the room, down another newly built ramp, and attempted to scoot himself over to the sofa. Almost falling over he was glad to feel Jack's supporting hands under his arms and gently lifting him into the soft seat, even if he was a bit embarrassed to need to be lifted like a child.

The intro for the documentary put off his mellow thoughts and he focused his attention on the TV. To majestic music the camera panned slowly over a series of overgrown stone buildings set atop a high mountain top. Daniel recognized them as ruined Inca cities from South America.

"At least they got the right images," he commented to Jack, his voice intermingling with the opening voiceover.

"_The Inca's last standing structures, left behind for the archeologists of today to explore, are the majestic temples of sites like Machu Picchu and Cusco…"_

"Not temples – cities" Daniel stage-whispered to Jack, who smirked in response.

The documentary went on, with Daniel ripping the so called archaeological findings into pieces at every turn, and Jack simply laughing along with the hilarity of his comments. After the Inca documentary had ended, Jack zapped around the channels until they found another documentary, this one about Egypt. _Oh, this is really gonna be good_, Jack thought as he put the controller down and got ready to hear the Daniel-moderated version.

He let Daniel continue with one documentary after another until he was falling asleep in the sofa. Turning the TV off he nudged the archaeologist awake enough to transfer him to the wheelchair and drove him into his room. Getting a sleepy Daniel changed into his pajamas was a bit of a struggle, where parent techniques Jack had thought long forgotten suddenly came into welcome use. Finally he had gotten his friend safely tucked in though and headed for his own bed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Sam was in her lab. With the irregular schedule of the complex under Cheyenne Mountain she was not quite sure about the time, but she was fairly certain of placing it somewhere in the midday range. On the centre table was a complicated setup of three computers and several external hard drives connected by a veritable bird nest of cables. At the hub of the technological maze was the data chip from PQX-830, connected to two of the computers with a dozen of different cables attached to every inch of it. The setup had been there for a couple of days already. It had been set up the day after they'd gotten back from the sandy planet, but it wasn't until yesterday when Daniel had gotten out of the infirmary that she had been able to concentrate on figuring out how to access the information on the chip.

The first thing she'd had to figure out had been the interface. Being an alien piece of technology she couldn't just plug the chip into the computer and download – as she had at length attempted to explain to Jack when he dropped by to check on her progress. It was definitely an advantage that she, and her fellow tech-geeks on the base, had plenty of experience in hacking their way into alien technology. In the youth of the Stargate program a dilemma like this one would have taken them weeks to figure out. Now it only took them a few hours of experimentally attaching their cables to different parts of the chip and running the results through their own especially coded programs, to have it finally yield some results in the form of comprehensible readouts on one of the computer screens.

Having opened the door to the information on the chip turned out to only be the first of Sam's obstacles. The readout showed her that the storage capacity of the chip was only short of enormous, reminding Sam of a certain other alien repository of knowledge that they had only ever gotten a tiny glimpse of. She was sincerely glad no one would have to put their head into this well of knowledge for them to tap it, but the question still remained as to how they could extract and read the information.

The file-structure on the chip was unlike anything she'd ever seen, a maze equivalent of the tech on the table, and everything was written in a language completely alien to her. _Might be of Earth origin_, she thought, but to her it sadly made no difference. She needed someone to translate it before she could proceed with downloading the data. Not even one of the biggest hard-drives could hold it in its entirety and she didn't want to risk separating pieces of information that might belong together.

With Daniel brought home by Jack under strict orders from Dr. Fraiser to do nothing but rest, Sam turned to the rest of the linguistics department for help. A dozen translators descended on her lab, swarming around the computers like a flock of chattering monkeys. The room was crowded to the breaking point, so after a stern admonition on the delicacy of the technological setup she left them to their work. It was time to get some rest anyways, and to see the sky for once. The habit of staying over on-base to get more work done was one she shared with her good friend Dr. Daniel Jackson.

Changed into her street-wear she ascended the two elevators to the surface and hopped on her motorcycle. She waved to the guards as she swept through the gates and drove towards the centre of Colorado Springs. An idea hit her. _Maybe I should swing by Jack's house and see how Daniel's doing._ She altered her course to the familiar route leading to Jack's house and it wasn't long until she pulled up and parked on the driveway beside his truck.

The well-known façade was slightly altered by a long ramp leading up the low steps towards the entrance. Sam couldn't help but smile at the testament to Jack's concern for his best friend.

* * *

Jack was in the kitchen when he heard the rapping on the door.

"Coming!" he shouted, hurriedly putting the knife down and wiping off his hands on the way to the door.

Upon opening the door he was surprised to see Sam standing outside, the motorcycle helmet under her arm and dressed in that leather biker outfit that he would deny to his final breath made her look incredibly sexy.

"Hi," she said. "Can I come in?"

He stepped aside, closing the door after her.

"Sure. I was just fixing some dinner, want some?"

"I could do with some food." Her reply was accompanied with a warm smile of the kind that after all these years still made his rebellious heart flutter every time he saw it. He ignored it. _At least that part gets a bit easier with practice._

Placing her helmet by the door and unzipping her jacket Sam followed Jack into the kitchen, where he returned to his task of chopping vegetables. Following her nose Sam found a pot of stew on the stove into which she assumed the vegetables were headed.

"I must admit I'm a bit impressed, sir," she teased as she stirred the simmering concoction and lifted the ladle to have a taste. "This is delicious."

"What?" The tone of Jack's voice assured her he wasn't offended. "You didn't think I could cook?"

"Well in lack of any evidence to the contrary…" She delivered the gibe with a wink, and was rewarded with a laugh. It was the real whole-hearted kind that, unlike his sardonic 'Ha', told her that in his opinion today was a good day.

"Can I help with anything?" she offered, partly to divert her own attention from his smiling lips. _This should be getting easier by now._

"You could get the macaroni on boil," Jack suggested.

Sam nodded. He didn't need to give her any further instructions; after years of movie nights and other get-togethers she knew her way around his kitchen almost as well as her own. While she picked out a pot, filled it with water and placed it on the stove, she turned the conversation onto the original cause for her visit.

"So, how's Daniel?"

"Good," Jack replied. "He's resting at the moment but he'll be out for dinner."

"Resting? I'm impressed." The joke was full of the actual emotion, making Jack's voice resound with humor as he explained.

"Well, I forced him to bed and he can't really get up on his own yet, so all the books are out of reach. Plus I didn't bring any work for him from the mountain, so whether he wants to or not all the things he could possibly do are more or less resting. Only straining thing available is his rehabilitation exercises and he needs me for those as well." The corners of Jack's lips curved with an evil smirk, contradicted by the warmth in his eyes. Sam laughed.

"Yeah, that'll do it for a while at least. Let me know if you need any help when it doesn't anymore."

"Will do, Carter, will do."

"Jack!" Daniel's voice interrupted their scheming and Jack hurried out of the kitchen to see what the subject for that very scheming needed.

"Hey there, Danny. Did we wake you?" he asked as he pushed open the door to Daniel's room.

Daniel was up on his elbows, the covers thrown back and quite obviously trying to get out of the bed. His brow was creased with lines of annoyance. Jack was almost proud to be one of the few people in the world to be able to distinguish them from anger, concentration and all the other million emotions that frequently made their mark there. The only other people he knew to have gotten that close to Daniel were the other two members of SG-1 – and Sha're of course. _And still he doesn't seem to really understand how much we care for him._ Jack mentally shook his head and stepped forward to help Daniel out of bed.

Daniel ducked his head and avoided Jack's eyes as he let him practically lift him into the wheelchair. It pained Jack to see it, even if he understood. He knew Daniel was used to taking care of himself. It was one of the reasons he detested his far too frequent visits to the infirmary; having other people care for him just made him embarrassed. As much as Jack could relate to his feelings for Fraiser's domain he couldn't wrap his head around the embarrassed part.

Having gotten Daniel comfortably seated, Jack waited for what he knew was about to come. _Here it comes…_

"Sorry," Daniel mumbled, his head still ducked down to hide the shade of red on his cheeks.

"Daniel…" Jack chided gently, kneeling down to catch those elusive sky blue orbs that were his eyes. "For the hundredth time, you don't have to apologize. It's not your fault that you're hurt, and I _do not_ mind taking care of you."

Daniel sighed and tried to elude his eyes again, but his head couldn't duck any further without molding into his chest. Lifting his head instead, he opted for a different plan of escape and changed the topic.

"Who's we?"

"Huh?" The rapid transition threw Jack for a loop.

"You said 'did _we_ wake you'," Daniel explained and continued in a joking tone, "Do we have a visitor or have you just finally lost your mind and gone multiple personalities on me? 'Cause mind you, if this is turning into a special needs home I might decide to move out once I'm back on my feet."

Jack decided to let him off the hook for now – _there'll always be next time_ – and took the bait.

"You never know. Could be I've just imagined Sam came over to have dinner with us. You better check she's real, or you might have to start packing."

Daniel's relief couldn't have been more obvious, his hunched shoulders relaxing as he straightened his back. Jack rose and ruffled his hair.

"Hands and feet inside the cart at all times. Enjoy the ride," he said with carnival announcer joviality as he grabbed the handles on the wheelchair and rolled his friend out toward the dining room.

Parking Daniel at his place at the head of the table Jack returned to the kitchen where he found the meal almost done. While he'd been gone Sam had finished chopping the vegetables for him and added them to the stew. _Turns out it's good with team understanding in the home as well._ The macaroni was also bubbling away in their pot, so there wasn't anything left for him to do but set the table. He smiled his thanks to Sam, grabbed three plates and headed out to the dining room again. Sam followed him with the cutlery and glasses, finishing off the simple table setting. Jack signaled for her to take a seat as he returned for the food.

Letting Jack retake the hosting Sam sat down in the chair to Daniel's right.

"How are you doing, Daniel?"

"Good, I'm good."

The answer was what she'd expected and as always didn't say much as to how he really felt. _The man could be dying and he would_ _still insist he was fine._ Everyone in the SGC that even remotely knew him could tell you that much, even if only a few had actually been allowed close enough to be able to see though the façade. Sam counted herself to be one of the lucky few. Searching his face she consciously weighed the sincerity of his smile and the angles of the lines around his eyes, coming to the conclusion that he wasn't altogether lying. He was tired and she knew he didn't like being injured and dependant on others, but he was clearly still riding the optimistic wave from their success with the healing device.

Sam's scrutinizing made Daniel uncomfortable. He knew what she was looking for and as much as her concern for him warmed his heart he couldn't help but feel a little offended by the way none of his teammates ever seemed to trust his word concerning his health.

"How's it going with the data chip?" he asked, hoping to distract her by taking up the subject of work. When it came to passion for work on the border of workaholism he and Sam had a lot in common, even if anyone who knew both of them could easily judge who was the worst. To his relief Sam took the bait.

"We finally found a setup that gives us access to the information. Technically it wasn't so hard. As I suspected we just needed to find the parts of the chip that are the conductors. It's amazing; the amount of data stored on it is huge, a veritable data base. It could quite possibly be a collection of knowledge on the level of the Ancient repository."

"Oy, don't mention that thing, Carter," Jack groused as he came out from the kitchen with the steaming pot of stew in one hand and a serving bowl of macaroni in the other.

"Sorry, sir," Sam atoned half-honestly. "We were just talking about the data chip from PQX-830 and how much information there seems to be on it. My point was just that it could very well be comparable to the Ancient repository."

Jack gave an exaggerated flinch at the second mention of the repository.

"Aht! What did I just tell you?!"

"_But_," Sam intoned the word with reassurance. "No one will be needing to hold the information in their head, since we have already managed to rig up a connection to our computers. Transferring the data shouldn't be a problem once we've translated some of it and gotten a grasp of the structure of the information."

"Translated?" Daniel latched on to the keyword that marked where he should usually come into the equation. "Should I come in and take a look at it?" With the tone of his voice the question could just as well have been phrased 'can I' and directed to Jack. Since Daniel had posed it to Sam, Jack let her answer. He trusted completely that they were on the same page concerning the probability of that happening. She knew as well as he what Janet had said on the particular subject of Daniel working. 'Don't' and 'I don't even want to see him on-base' were a few of the words she'd used.

"I put the rest of the linguistics team on it right before I left," Sam said, confirming she wasn't about to go against the doctor's orders. "You could have done it faster, Daniel, but I'm sure they'll have some results for me when I come back to the base tomorrow. There's no need for you to come in."

For a split second Daniel's face fell before his defensive walls went up with the silent bang of a false smile.

"Okay, yeah, it's probably for the best since Janet told me to rest. Let me know if you change your mind."

Sam locked her eyes into Jack's. _What was that about?_

He gave her a curt shake of his head. _Leave it. I'll talk to him later. _

They finished the meal with inconsequential conversation, keeping well off the subjects of work, PQX-830, and the archaeology and linguistics departments. In actuality it was Jack and Sam who did most of the talking while Daniel half-heartedly picked at his food and stared at the table. His mind was reeling with thoughts and fears, the same he'd had before Sam had healed him and now reawakened by what she had said. Finally he gave a yawn, exaggerating it a bit for effect.

"I'm tired," he lied. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

Jack immediately rose to assist him, inevitably reminding Daniel of his dependence on him. He gritted his teeth. _Damn it. I hate this._

"Thanks for stopping by, Sam," he said as he let Jack wheel him out from under the table.

Thankfully Jack didn't speak as he helped him back in bed and piled up the pillows behind his back so he could half-sit in the bed. Daniel relished the silence and, when Jack went back out to Sam, the solitude.

Alone in the dimmed light from the lamp on the bedside table he lay staring at the ceiling. He had been doing a lot of that lately he realized. First the infirmary ceiling, with which he was already embarrassingly familiar, and now the one in his room. _Should put something up there to look at. Maybe stars,_ he mused. The thought wasn't very uplifting as it brought back all the uncertainties he had been trying to push away. _Wonder if I'll ever get out there again._

After the success with the healing device he had been convinced that the bleak future he'd conjured up in his infirmary bed had been derailed. He had assumed that Janet's reserved prognosis was just one of those things doctors said, and that he was in fact going to be fine. His meeting with the physical therapist – Lieutenant Sandra Johnson – had however not quite gone the way he wanted. Since Sam hadn't been able to heal him completely he had counted on a lot of hard work to get back on his feet and return to his place on SG-1, but he hadn't been prepared for what Lieutenant Johnson would say. To his great dismay she had told him that he'd be wearing the back brace for at least six weeks, and that she still couldn't promise his spine would be completely healed by the time it came off.

"There's still a risk of dislocation of the vertebrae after removing the back brace," she had said and followed up with another bit of dismaying information. "We'll start out small and successively increase the intensity of the therapy. Based on the results of the first couple of weeks we'll know more of what grade of improvement we can expect to achieve."

"Huh?" Daniel had been listening attentively, but hearing those last words he thought he must have somehow missed something. "What do you mean 'grade of improvement'?"

Lieutenant Johnson had looked surprised that he didn't understand.

"As I'm sure Dr. Fraiser has explained there is no guarantee you will regain full functionality, even if we will of course be working towards that end."

She had patted him on the shoulder and proceeded to the instructions for his first set of exercises, which he would be doing for the first couple of weeks. With the force of denial Daniel had soon forgotten about her worrying words. Until now.

Lying in his bed staring at the excruciatingly boring ceiling, with Sam's words repeating in his head, his thoughts returned to the physical therapist and what she had said. Piecing her words together with Janet's apprehension to actually tell him that he would be fine reawoke the fear from his mind. _What if I don't make it out there again? What if I'm stuck like this? How long is Jack gonna 'not mind' taking care of me?_ Since he was alone he finally let the tears he'd held back for so long fall.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Jack questioned the decision to leave Daniel alone the very moment he stepped out of the room and pushed the door to an almost close. He left a small crack in order to hear if Daniel called for him.

Returning to the dining room he pondered his friend's hurried retire to his room. Jack knew something was bothering Daniel. The fact that he wasn't allowed to help with the translation of the data chip from PQX-830 had apparently brought up the thoughts from that first night in the infirmary. Their friendship was strong, but talking and other such touchy-feely aspects of friendship had never been Jack's strong side. He needed Sam's help on this one even if he was quite sure he was still going to have to be the one doing the actual talking in the end.

"Can you stay for a bit?" he asked her when he entered the dining room and slumped down in his chair.

"Of course," was her response, the mirror image of his concern for their shared friend evident in her voice. She wasn't about to leave him to deal with this on his own, especially since she was familiar with his fluidity in sensitivity.

Jack fixed them some coffee and they retreated to the living room, the sofa being both more comfortable and further away from Daniel's room. Jack didn't want him to hear them talking about him as it would probably only make him less inclined to talk when it came time for that. Turning his cup in his hand and taking a sip of the hot beverage Jack decided to dive right in.

"Something's up with Daniel."

Sam nodded, taking a sip of her coffee as well.

"I know he wants in on the translation, but Janet said he should rest. Besides, the pile of linguists piled into my lab should at least be close to matching the amount of knowledge crammed into his brain. They'll figure it out, and he can focus on getting better as the doctor ordered."

Her joke about the resident language genius of SGC fell flat, a worrying measure of how concerned Jack was.

"I don't think this is just about the translation," he said, "or him actually adhering to the doctor's orders for once."

"You think there's something else?" Sam sat up more straight. A slight crease of worry wrinkled her brow.

Jack took another thoughtful swig of coffee before he answered her.

"I'm afraid so. You know we had an argument that first night after we got back?"

Sam nodded.

"Yeah, Daniel told me he yelled at you."

Jack gave a crooked grin. _No problem being honest when it comes to accepting blame. _

"I guess he did. Did he tell you what he said?"

"No, he just said he yelled and told you to go away. And that you did as he asked 'for once'."

Jack cringed at the quotation. Daniel's words were painfully apt. It wasn't often Jack did as he asked, and now he'd picked going away as the one request to adhere to. He sighed.

"Guess in hindsight that wasn't my smartest move, but I didn't know what to say to make him feel better. I've always been more of the doing type, so that's what I did. Went and did something."

"You did the right thing, sir, convincing me to try healing him. If you hadn't insisted I might not have dared to try and he'd be a lot worse off than he is now." Sam was trying to comfort him, but Jack remembered Janet's warning about the penny dropping for Daniel.

"I know. But the things he said that night stuck with me, and they've been grating at my mind. Or maybe not the things he said but rather how he said it, and what they expressed."

"What, Jack?" Sam leaned forward, protocol completely forgotten in the face of the solemnity in Jack's voice. Obviously he had been thinking about this quite a bit and come to an unsettling conclusion.

"He said he wouldn't be much use to me as a recruit for the hockey team. But I'm pretty sure he wasn't only referring to the hockey. If that was all it was about he wouldn't have been as upset as he was. Sure he was starting to like it, but his face…it was like he meant he wouldn't be any use _at all_. Like he felt useless without his legs."

Jack's words were certainly worrying, but there was one thing she needed to clarify.

"Wait a minute," she said, "hockey?"

"Yeah, I convinced him to try it after we watched a game together and he actually found it interesting." Jack smiled warmly at the memory but sobered quickly. "Not the point though, Carter, I am actually worried about him. He was so angry, and…Fraiser even warned me about what might happen if he isn't going to be completely restored. You know how much SG-1 means to him. Who knows how he'll react if he can't be on the team anymore."

That brought Sam's mirth down as well.

"I have an inkling," she muttered and shuddered at the recollection of Daniel's face when she had come to him to suggest using the Goa'uld healing device. "You didn't see him before I healed him," she told Jack, not quite able to keep the reproach out of her voice. It wasn't entirely fair, but Jack _hadn't _seen what she had. "It was worse than after Langara. He had actually _given up_, I think."

Her choice of words had just the effect she had intended. Jack knew as well as her the amount of Daniel's tendency to give up. The colonel fell back in the sofa with a grunt.

"Holy Hannah. What'd he think; that we were just gonna kick him out and move on? Yeez, Daniel!" He uttered the name of his favorite annoyance in a frustrated hiss.

Sam resisted the urge to scoot closer. Instead she put all the reassurance into her voice that her arm around his shoulders would have conveyed.

"It'll get better. He'll get better and return to work, and he'll see there's always a place for him at the base – and that we'll be his team, his friends, no matter if he's on SG-1 or not."

Jack sighed and straitened up a bit, putting his cup down on the sofa table. Gathered his thoughts and courage alike.

"I hope so. Either way, I have to talk to him before he digs himself into a hole of despair again. Thank you for coming over, Carter. And thank you for…" He made a vague gesture to the living room, or perhaps to the two of them sitting in the sofa. Sam understood and gave him an encouraging smile as she rose.

"Any time, sir."

Zipping up her jacket she walked to the hall and retrieved her helmet from beside the door. Her hand on the door handle, she turned to him and said, "Good luck."

Jack simply nodded and locked the door after her. Gathering a bit more courage he headed for Daniel's room and hesitantly pushed the door open. Daniel was lying as he left him, staring at the ceiling like he did a lot in his bed.

"Not much else to do," he had told Jack when he commented on it just the same morning.

"You are supposed to be resting, recuperating, healing. Sound familiar?" Jack had half seriously scolded him, and gotten a succinct retort – worthy of Teal'c, the king of conciseness himself.

"Gallingly," Daniel had muttered with a slight hint of bitterness.

_I should probably cut him some slack and allow him a book at hand_, Jack thought as he cleared his throat and entered the room.

Daniel did the lying down equivalent of stepping back; tilting his head up against the headboard and shrugging his shoulders. His hands flew across his face like a pair of panicked ferrets, swiping at his eyes and cheeks. Wrapping his arms around himself in his patented self-hugging gesture he pulled himself together. _The kid is way too good at that_, Jack thought but let him do it anyway and silently sat down on the edge of the bed. For several minutes he just sat there, searching for the words to begin. Daniel looked back at him, the defensive wall just behind his eyes as firmly in place as ever. With Jack it was also as ineffective as ever, and even if he didn't know exactly what was going on in that brilliant brain of his Jack recognized the emotional pain shining through the cracks that only he could see in the wall.

"Daniel, we need to talk," Jack began, tiptoeing around the frail edge of the sensitive subject. Daniel most certainly knew what was coming up, because he immediately reinforced the barrier that was almost physically visible on his face.

"Yes, Jack?" he responded warily.

"I know something's going on, so just talk to me." Jack all but pleaded to him. Daniel turned his head away, directing his eyes to the wall on the other side of the room.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You know that I know that is a lie."

Daniel sighed and turned his gaze back to Jack as a flash of anger swept across his features. _Fine_¸ Jack thought,_ at least you talk when you're angry._

"I don't _want to_ talk about it."

"But we're going to regardless. You need to talk about it and I need to know what's going on so I can help." _Boy, is this a flip change of roles! I remember when he was the one who insisted on me dealing with my feelings. Saved my life then – right after he'd done it literally. I guess it's my turn._

Daniel huffed and turned his head away again, not even trying to hide his anger anymore.

"Go away, Jack."

"That is not going to work this time. It's sharing time." Jack tried to stay away from the temptation of joking, but the slight humor of his sardonic statement was lost on Daniel anyways.

"Well, what do you want me to say?!" Daniel snapped his head around, his electric blue eyes shooting lightning sparks.

"How about how you feel?" Jack retorted. "What is it exactly that you don't want to talk about?"

Daniel turned his head away yet again, with another sigh that sounded a fair bit defeated.

"I might not get better," he ground out eventually, still avoiding Jack's eyes. "Janet tried to tell me but I didn't listen. Guess I was just so happy to be getting better I didn't want to listen to her. The physical therapist told me too, but I've just sort of been denying it. I might not get getter, Jack." Daniel's voice cracked with emotion and he struggled to keep the tears in. He had a lot of training so even though his eyes filled to the brim his cheeks remained dry. Jack inwardly cursed whoever had taught him that lesson.

"I know." He held his voice sas gentle as the hand he laid on Daniel's arm. To his relief Daniel didn't pull away. He let Jack lightly stroke the arm and loosen one of his hands to slide his into it. For a while they sat quietly, hand in hand, Daniel apparently consumed by his thoughts. Jack waited. He knew that this time Daniel would talk when he was ready.

The fruit of the brooding finally came out in a voice thick with barely held back tears.

"What if I don't?"

Jack gripped his hand harder, bringing his other hand to rest on top and completely envelop Daniel's.

"Daniel," he whispered while trying to suppress his own tears. "What are you so afraid of? It doesn't matter if you can walk or not."

"If I can't walk, I can't be on SG-1…" Daniel's voice really broke this time and he was unable to say another word. The lump in his throat felt like it was threatening to suffocate him. His breathing turned into clipped gulps for air and he leaned his head back as if it would clear his airways. Jack understood what Daniel was thinking anyway, the unsaid words confirming what he had suspected already. He leaned forward and intoned his words with assurance.

"I'm telling you, Daniel, it doesn't matter."

Daniel somehow regained his vocals to protest, his voice laced with bitter derision.

"I can hardly be allowed to go off-world like this. I'd be a liability, and you know it."

Jack did know it, but that wasn't the point, and that was what he had to make Daniel understand.

"Daniel," he reached up his hand to clasp the younger man's chin, forcing Daniel's eyes to meet his. "It doesn't matter if you can walk…" He lifted his hand to stop the protest instantly forming on Daniel's lips. "…because you will always be my friend, Sam's friend, and Teal'c's. It doesn't matter if you're on SG-1 and going through the 'gate, you'll always be a part of our team. We need you. Besides, your strongest part never was your legs. Come to think of it, we should all be glad you didn't land on your head and wrecked that genius brain of yours."

Again, Daniel ignored Jack's attempt at a joke, and turned his eyes to their interlocked hands.

"But you don't need me," he objected. Jack couldn't believe his ears.

"Why would you say that?"

Daniel shrugged disheartenedly.

"You've got the rest of the linguistics department to replace me. You did fine for a whole year when I was ascended. Sam's doing fine with the chip from PQX-830. You'll do fine without me again."

"Oh, Daniel." Jack breathed the words with exasperation. "We 'did fine' because we had to. You were gone, not coming back, practically dead. Jonas proved to be an asset, but he didn't replace you. And about the linguistics department, we need the whole thing to make up for you. There are probably a dozen of those guys in Sam's lab right now to try and do over night what you would whip out on your own in just a few hours."

Daniel swallowed hard and for the first time his blue pools of tears voluntarily met Jack's eyes.

"So why did she say she didn't need me?" The question was almost a childlike whine, full of every fear his wounded heart held.

Jack steeled himself to maintain eye contact and get his point through.

"Because Fraiser ordered you to rest, remember?! 'No work' was her precise words. You were there so I know you know that's what she said. If the rest of the geeks can figure it out you don't have to do this one, but that doesn't mean we don't need you. When you're feeling better and Fraiser says so you can get back to work, and save us all a lot of time and trouble of dealing with the less than genius remainder of your department. Until then though, you are going to do as the doctor ordered or she might force you back to the infirmary."

Daniel mulled Jack's words over, his eyes searching the colonel's face for something that would tell him he was just lying to make him feel better. He knew his friend was definitely capable of doing that, but on the other hand Jack seldom was this straightforward – even when he was lying. Even more seldom did he do the whole serious talking bit. Mostly he left the talking to what he called the more sensitive portion of the team, namely Daniel or Sam.

"I'm not good with touchy-feely stuff," he always said but Daniel knew in reality it was more a matter of the touchy-feely making him uncomfortable. _He has got to be really worried to be acting so out of character_, Daniel thought, suddenly acutely aware of Jack's hands gently clasping his. He yanked his hand away, his eyes escaping to downcast as he felt his face flame red.

"Sorry," he mumbled into his chest. Jack caught his hand again and reenveloped it with both of his own.

"You've got nothing to be sorry about, Daniel. I know that you're feeling bad and this whole thing is shit scary, but you've got to remember your friends will always be there for you no matter what."

Daniel stayed silent, his eyes wandering from Jack's hands stubbornly clasping his, to the wall, and to the roof. They went everywhere except to Jack's face. A range of emotions played over his features; embarrassment giving way to confusion – _damn it, Daniel_ – and finally understanding and gratefulness. The relief rushed over Jack like a flood wave when Daniel at last met his eyes again. There were still tears there but a small smile already tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Thanks, Jack."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Sam returned to the SGC in the late morning after allowing herself a bit of sleeping in. She hadn't gotten quite as much sleep as she wanted, the events at Jack's house nagging at the back of her mind, but she was still more well-rested than she had been for a good while. Upon entering her lab she found it abandoned, a fact that raised her hopes that the linguistics team had solved her problem as promised. After checking over the equipment, just in case they'd happened to disconnect or dislocate something in their work, she headed for the archaeology and linguistics department located around Daniel's lab.

The corridor seemed almost as unpopulated as her lab. She finally found one of the linguists that had worked on the alien data in his office, sleeping on top of his desk. The office was strikingly similar to Daniel's lab, with at least a dozen books and twice as many untidy piles of notes scattered across the desk around the sleeping man. Sam even thought she recognized some of the books as volumes she'd seen in Daniel's bookshelf.

"Doctor Sax?" she called as she knocked softly on the open door. The doctor – ph. – came awake with a start despite her cautiousness.

"Hm, what, huh, wha…" he blurted while disorientedly adjusting his glasses and removing a sheet of notes stuck to his cheek.

"Doctor Sax," Sam repeated, alerting him to what had woken him up and gave him a small wave when he noticed her.

"Oh, hello, Major Carter. How may I help you?"

"Have you got any results for me?"

He looked confused so she continued,

"About the data from PQX-830?"

Remembrance quickly dawned on the still sleepy linguist's face.

"Yes, yes. It's here somewhere," He sifted thought the mess of papers on his desk and pulled out a wad of notes marked in different colored tags. "Alright, we have a few diverging theories…"

Sam sighed. _That's what you get for putting a _team_ on it._ Dr. Sax didn't notice her annoyance as he continued explaining.

"We believe the language could be a derivate of Turkish or Hindi. The text itself seems completely unique for the planet and has no linkage to any written language on Earth, so unfortunately the letters themselves couldn't lend us any aid in determining the origin for the language. Hence we have two possible translations for you, based on probable and logical language construction."

Sam accepted the pile of papers he handed to her with a half-hearted "thank you". Heading back towards her lab she hoped that the fact that she held two _possible_ translations in her hand instead of the one she had expected wouldn't affect her continued work with the data chip.

Once in her lab she closed the door behind her to be undisturbed. She placed the translations on the table while she switched the computers on. Everything ready she finally picked up the linguists' notes to read them. To her initial relief the notes were fairly well structured, the two translations running parallel over the page together with the original text, but the positive feeling quickly faded when she began reading.

Where she had hoped that the differences would be insignificant, they were in fact devastatingly divergent. If she chose one she would be dividing the data in one way, but if she chose the other she would have to do it another way. If she picked the wrong one she would be risking fragmentation of the information to the point where she in best case would be creating an endless amount of extra work for anyone who was tasked with studying it, and in worst case make it completely unreadable.

With an exasperated sigh she leaned back in her chair. _Damn it!_ Of course, she could take a chance and hope that the one she picked was right, but with no majority vote from the translators she had no idea which one was the best choice. _What do I do now? Maybe I should have Daniel take a look at it and tell me which one I should pick. _She straightened up when the roguish idea struck her. _After all, the linguistics team has spared him a bit of the work so I wouldn't be violating Janet's orders too much. Plus, seeing how badly we manage down here without him might make him feel a bit better. _Reassured by her reasoning she rose and shoved the translations into her bag.

Bringing it over to Daniel and Jack's place would have to wait until later though; she did have at least a dozen of other projects that needed her attention before she could leave the mountain with good conscience. The Stargate dialing system was due for a diagnostic overview, something that General Hammond had pointed out to her now that SG-1 was on stand down awaiting Daniel's recovery.

It was actually nice to be earth-bound for once and have a chance to catch up on her lagging work. The past few months had been intense and they had hardly even had time to welcome Daniel home properly after his descension. _We should have a party_, Sam thought as she made her way down to the control room.

Sergeant Walter Harriman was on duty at the central computer and greeted her with the special warmth of the family of most permanent members of the SGC.

"Major Carter," he said with a smile and a nod that replaced the rising and saluting. They had worked together for so long now that strict protocol had long since become simply annoying.

"Hello, Walter. The general asked me to run some diagnostics. Do you have time to help me?"

"Of course, Major."

Walter rolled his chair out of the way to let her access the main monitor. While she logged in and booted up the diagnostics tools he matched her actions on the neighboring screen. The two computers would be running the tests simultaneously to avoid any mistakes that could hide a crucial malfunction. Having initiated the run-through there wasn't much they could do but monitor the process, since they couldn't leave it unsupervised. Sam turned to Walter to let him in on an idea that was slowly forming in her head.

"I've been thinking, Walter. We're long overdue for a party."

"Yes, ma'am. Any special occasion?" Walter responded jovially. Parties were always good, in his opinion, and they did try to arrange one for the personnel of SGC from time to time. If for no other reason to lift the spirits and let loose some of the tension that their life-or-death business inevitable built up.

"Well we haven't had a real welcome home party for Daniel," Sam suggested. Walter nodded. Daniel's return was an excellent occasion.

"I hear you, ma'am. I've talked to a few of the guys about it actually and there are a lot of us that would like to have a chance to tell him how glad we are to have him back."

"So you'll help me pull it together?"

"Sure, when do you want it?"

Sam grinned. _I can always count on Walter._

"I might have to check with Dr. Fraiser," she said. "Could be Daniel's not quite ready for that kind of excitement, but as soon as she gives her go-ahead I think would be good."

"I'll get the ball rolling, ma'am, and we'll be ready to pull it off whenever you give the word." Walter smiled conspiratorially and was already beginning to check off his mental list of key party arranging people on the base.

Sam felt reassured the party would be a hit; it always was when Walter was in on the planning. The man was a veritable spider in the web that was personal relations on-base. If there was someone he didn't know, that person was probably not really worth knowing.

The diagnostics took the better part of the day, quite a bit longer than Sam had expected, and she didn't end up leaving the base until late in the evening. The translations notes were still in her bag but since it was so late she decided going over to Daniel with them would have to wait to another day.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Daniel rolled into the gym to meet with Lieutenant Johnson for his first session of physical therapy. It was just a few days since he had been released from the infirmary, but he was already anxious to get started on getting himself back to work.

_Time to get these legs moving_, he pepped himself as he navigated his way between the exercise machines. The room seemed empty, something quite rare on a base with a couple of hundreds air force, marine and army personnel, but Daniel was grateful he wouldn't have an audience for his session. In the light of the cautions from both his doctor and therapist he wasn't sure how it would go.

As Daniel settled himself to wait for Lieutenant Johnson he discovered that he wasn't entirely alone as he had thought. On a mat in a corner of the room sat Teal'c, his legs folded in the position of Kelno'reem. His stillness gave him a faraway air of serenity, but Daniel could tell he wasn't in deep meditation. Sure enough, the very moment Daniel discovered him Teal'c opened his alien chocolate brown eyes to meet his blue gaze.

"Hi," Daniel smiled when Teal'c gave him a nod in greeting. "Doing Kelno'reem in the gym nowadays?"

Teal'c gave a small negating shake of his head.

"I was in fact awaiting your arrival, DanielJackson,"

"Me? Why?"

"I wish to offer my assistance in your recovery. I believed your physical therapy session to be a suitable occasion."

Daniel checked himself as he was tempted to assure Teal'c that he didn't need any help. _I guess I should be grateful._

"Thanks, Teal'c," he said instead, "that's really nice of you. Did Janet give you my schedule?"

"She did not."

Daniel blinked.

"So you've just sat here waiting?" he asked surprised.

Teal'c modestly inclined his head, complementing the gesture with what could well have been called his catchphrase – _if people had those in real life_,

"Indeed."

A shout interrupted their conversation.

"Dr. Jackson!"

The physical therapist entered with a bounce in her steps, and an almost annoying amount of energy radiating from her entire being. She was an average height woman of slight build, her long brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail that gave her a sporty look. When Daniel had his consultation with her before going home she had worn the green BDUs of the SGC, which had given her the bland interchangeable look of most personnel on the base. Now she was sporting a set of yoga-pants and a bright yellow t-shirt, and seemed a whole lot more comfortable in it. Exchanging a scornful look with Teal'c, Daniel was suddenly very happy to have his friend with him. Even if Teal'c was the one from another planet this woman oddly enough felt far more alien to him. He braced himself and greeted the bubbling apparition of a woman.

"Hello, Sandra."

She had asked him specifically when they first spoke to not use her rank, referring to the many hours they would be spending together over the coming weeks. Daniel had been glad of her initiative as he was also a person who preferred the familiarity of first names. _Funny though how she seems to have trouble calling me by mine._

"Are you ready to get started?" she asked in a cheery voice.

"Yes." _That's why we're here, isn't it._

"Alright. Remember, we're going to take it slow the first sessions so don't be disappointed if you don't see any results at once. Your back is still healing and your movability will increase as the swelling around the spine decreases. Okay? Let's get started with the first exercise."

Her bright optimism flowed over Daniel like a wave on a rock, crashing into the nagging fears and doubts in his heart and making both sides stand out in contrast. Determined to not let himself go down the destructive defeatist path Daniel told himself that a positive attitude was a good idea and tried his best to tag along for the ride.

They worked for just over an hour with different exercises that let Daniel bend and test his legs in every thinkable way. He couldn't do much on his own, a fact that he tried his best not to fix his attention on. _It'll get better_, he told himself. _After all it's only the first session. _Sandra's light approach helped a bit, he realized, and Teal'c's silent support was encouraging as it reminded him of Jack's repeated assurances that his friends would not abandon him.

When the therapist's optimistic attitude occasionally grated on his nerves he cast a glance to Teal'c's unmoving presence on his mat in the corner. The Jaffa had remained in his Kelno'reem position and deceptively appeared to be in deep meditation, but Daniel could tell he was in fact paying close attention to the proceedings in the room. Whenever Daniel directed his gaze to him, he would open his eyes at once to impart a reassuring nod. If it was after a particularly bright expression from Sandra, he also gave the small but telling gesture of a single arched eyebrow, instantly diffusing the building annoyance in Daniel.

"That's all for today. Well done!" Sandra praised after she helped him into his chair at the end of the last exercise. "You have your work-out schedule at home? And someone to help you?" Daniel nodded twice, and Sandra continued, "Good! Keep to the exercises I've shown you and try to do at least a bit every day, and I'll see you again next week. Same time, same place!"

She swept out the door with a final wave goodbye, and Teal'c immediately dropped his mediation act. Daniel took a moment to catch his breath before he began wheeling his way toward the exit. Seeing his exhausted friend struggle, Teal'c gracefully rose from his lotus-position to interrupt the slow progress.

"Are you in need of assistance?"

Daniel looked up and gave him a bleak wisp of a smile. His nod held both reluctant agreement and gratitude. With a small bow Teal'c gripped the handles and began to guide him toward the changing room.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Sam got delayed at the SGC for several days, running different system diagnostics and assisting the research and technology departments in their ongoing projects. It seemed like everyone on the base who could make use of her input was trying to take advantage of her being somewhat voluntarily grounded from 'gate-travel.

It wasn't until the weekend that she finally decided to just bring the translations of the data base over to Daniel in the morning instead of even attempting to go to the SGC first. That way she wouldn't get delayed and could just spend the day with him and Jack, and at last make some head way on the work she was most interested in getting done instead of all the needs and shoulds of the SGC.

It was just after eight AM on Sunday morning when she knocked on their front door. Jack let her in with a yawn that swallowed up his welcome in a figurative black hole of his open mouth.

"How is he today?" Sam asked while she pulled the door closed behind her. Jack rubbed at his eyes and unsuccessfully attempted to prevent another yawn from escaping when he opened his mouth to answer her.

"'_He'_ is just fine." Daniel's voice came from the hallway and somewhat to Jack's relief interrupted his failing attempts at speech. He sounded more than a little annoyed at being referred to in third person. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here, you know."

Sam turned and smiled appeasement.

"Sorry, Daniel. I didn't know you were up. How are you?"

Her apology didn't do much to deter his irritation, even if the edge in his voice dulled just a smidgen as he repeated his state of health.

"I said I'm fine."

"Have you slept well?"

"Yes, I can't complain."

"Good, good. So you're well-rested? Not tired?"

"No…why?" Sam's questions were beginning to make Daniel suspicious, especially since her smile was becoming increasingly conspiratorial.

"Just checking so I won't be making Janet too angry."

"Why would you be making Fraiser angry," Jack cut in, joining Daniel in the suspicious club despite his previous membership in the masters of yawning. Sam's smile became a wide grin.

"I brought Daniel some work," she admitted, and added an apologetic shrug in Jack's direction before she turned back to Daniel to explain. "If you're up for it I would like you to take a look at the translations the linguistics department made for me. They couldn't agree – on quite a few things – so I just need you to tip the scale on which version I should use when I start downloading and decoding the data."

Daniel's bad mood disappeared in a flash. He shone like a kid on Christmas who had just witnessed the real actual Santa Claus climb down the chimney into his living room with every single thing he had wished for in his magic bag.

"I hope you brought the original text as well," he said after a long moment of simply smiling from ear to ear, "or I won't be able to see which translation is the better one."

"I did." Sam was rather pleased that she had thought of checking that the original text was all there as well as the linguistics department's two rivaling translations.

Daniel rewarded her with a satisfied nod as he motioned for her to bring the papers into the dining room and help him spread them out on the table. Knowing his limitations when it came to linguistics, Jack put himself on coffee-duty. They were both bright and alert now but if he knew his two geeks right there would be a need for caffeine before they were done.

Sam on the other hand didn't think her little task for Daniel would take too long. The flock of linguists had after all already done the actual translation work and all Daniel would need to do was pick the best one. Jack shook his head and put the pot on; he was sure he would turn out to be right in the end.

Less than half an hour later it had been proven that he was. Daniel had read the translations thoroughly, two times even. The second time he had sent Sam to fetch a red pen from his desk. That had been the judgment day of the linguistics department's work. After the third read-through there was more red than anything else on the papers, and before those first thirty minutes were up Daniel threw the last wad of it onto the mess on the table with an infuriated sigh.

"This is complete crap!"

His outcry made both Jack and Sam jump, and Jack almost spilled the two cups of coffee he was bringing from the kitchen all over himself.

"Hey, calm down there genius," he said while he tried to regain his balance and keep the hot beverages in their cups.

"Sorry, Jack." Daniel's apology was at best half-hearted, his focus still fixed on the offending papers.

"Now, what's wrong…?" Jack asked, pulling up short as he took in the scene before him. If the walls had been concrete and his vitrine a metal file cabinet he would have bought that they were in Daniel's lab instead of his dining room. There was not an inch of the table not covered with papers, none of them in neat piles but all jumbled together like a stack of cards in Go Fish. It looked like a danish explosion of red and white with all the scribbled notes Daniel had jotted all over the linguists' hard work.

"So, I'm guessing the translations weren't any good?" Jack ventured.

"No. Sometimes I wonder what they are all doing at the SGC. Makes me fear for my life if I'd ever have to rely on them getting a translation right to save me."

Daniel's complaining made Jack laugh, earning him an angry look.

"What? It's funny, 'cause it's true," Jack defended.

Daniel considered Jack's point, and then a smile burst onto his lips.

"I guess it kind of is. But still, having them do this was a complete waste of time," he added to Sam. "You should have let me do it from the beginning."

"Janet said no work and I did kind of assume we have an entire linguistics department for a reason, Daniel." Sam's voice carried a hint of admonishment. "I thought if they did most of the work you would get more rest, like you needed."

"Well, now I'm just going to have to do it anyway aren't I?"

Daniel didn't sound very unhappy about the prospect of diving into the task of translating a whole new alien language. Jack and Sam shared a look over his head. _We're going to have our hands full with making sure he doesn't overdo it._

Daniel dug himself into the work with a vengeance, like an addict getting a hold of his drug of choice. Jack and Sam were turned into his errand boy and girl, and he sent them to fetch book after book from the shelves in his room to add to the clutter on the dining table. When he got stuck and said he needed a few volumes from his office as well, Jack decided it was time for lunch.

"Or actually overdue," he added as he spotted the time well past two o'clock. "After we eat Sam can go fetch you what you need from the base."

"Good. And can you get me a white board as well? It would make it easier than with the notepads." He held the pad in his hand up as example, and the even for him unusually chaotic scribbles made his point well beyond a doubt.

They ate in the living room, Jack and Sam deliberately munching their microwave pizza slowly to draw out Daniel's break, and afterwards Sam headed over to the SGC to fetch a long list of books for him. Jack – with a combination of wrangling, insisting and straight out threatening to withhold him the work – got Daniel to lie down and rest while she was gone.

Daniel had done a lot of thinking since he got back from PQX-830, stuck in his bed staring at the roof. A lot of thinking and a lot of remembering. Ever since he came to Earth from Vis Uban he had been puzzled at the fact that it was easier for him to remember the scientific things than the personal ones. His first memory had been Sha're of course, but after that nothing had come for a long time. The multitude of languages he spoke had come back though, even the Ancient that he must have learnt while he was ascended, as well as every single Stargate address he had ever dialed.

Facing the people who claimed to be his friends, unable to actually remember their time together, had been torment. At first it hadn't bothered him; he hadn't even known if he really believed them. Nonetheless, as soon as they began telling him about his life, it was an undeniable fact that they knew him better than he knew himself. It had been a relief when he began to remember.

After breaking his back he didn't have much else to do than consider the recollection of his life before ascension. The only other alternative to occupy his mind was to dwell on his currently miserable situation. He began sifting through the memories that had returned so far, and in the process more surfaced to fill in the gaps in his memory. He often returned to her – _Sha're_. Even though her image in his mind would forever be connected to the greatest pain he had ever felt, it was also the source of the greatest joy his heart could even begin to comprehend.

When Jack ordered him to bed while waiting for Sam to return with his books he laid back and conjured up the memory once more, painting Sha're's face on the ceiling with invisible paint. _Maybe that's what I should put up there, instead of the stars; even if it is just a different but equally unattainable dream._ Closing his eyes he could still feel her lying next to him. It had been six years, and a stint in complete amnesia, but he could in memory still return to their tent in the abydonian desert. He could still for a moment recall her waking him up with a tender kiss and his heart ached with the inseparable blend of joy and sorrow.

Eventually and inevitably the sorrow became unbearable, and he turned to more light-hearted memories. Uncountable movie nights with the team, parties that lifted the spirits of SGC, silly snippets of conversations had around the campfire on a hundred different planets, groundbreaking discoveries of cultures long lost on Earth refound light-years away out among the stars of the Milky Way. That last one was another mix of emotions, the joy of discovery jaded by the fact that he could not share his finds with anyone outside of the SGC. _At least I'm back to making discoveries. _He smiled to himself and drifted back into the memories.

The sound of the front door opening announced Sam's return, and Daniel practically bounced out of both bed and memories. Fueled by his excitement he transferred himself to his wheelchair without any help.

"You're too slow!" he taunted Jack as he wheeled past him to return to the dining room.

Daniel worked until Jack tore the papers away from him by force to usher him to bed. The next morning he was back at it before Jack had even managed to get the breakfast started. Sam had gone home over nights, knowing she had to make an appearance at Cheyenne Mountain in the morning. She called at around noon to check in and Daniel assured her that he was all set to figure out the translation, even if it might take him a while to decipher the language.

* * *

It was three days later and almost midnight, when the phone rang in Sam's office. She had been working on reviewing an idea for a development of the naquada generator and had fallen asleep on her desk. The sharp ring pulled her from a fuzzy dream of an infinite power source, and she was still barely awake when she picked up the receiver.

The voice on the other end belonged to Daniel, and chirpily blurted out his errand before she even managed to say 'hi'.

"I'm done! I figured it out!"

The words took a moment to process in Sam's slowly awakening brain.

"The translation?" she finally asked.

"Yeah, what else?! Come over and I'll show you."

It wasn't until Sam was on her way that she reflected on the hour, and the fact that Daniel was still up and working. Consequently her first order of business on arriving at Jack's house was to raise the question of sleep with him and Jack.

"I tried," Jack said with a shrug as he retook his seat in the sofa, whereto he had chosen to retreat when his nagging had proven to have no effect on Daniel.

With an amused shake of her head Sam joined Daniel in the dining room. The room had morphed even further into a copy of Daniel's lab since she was there last, the papers and books now spilling off the table onto the chairs and floor. The only organized area visible was the white board that stood propped up against the wall. The file names from the alien data base were written up in columns with Daniel's translations pedagogically following alongside. The grin that broke across Sam's face when she spotted the board perfectly matched the one Daniel had worn when she gave him the assignment a few days ago.

"Where did the linguistics team go wrong?" she asked as she took a closer look, snapping up a pen to begin grouping the files in appropriate sections for the transfer to the hard drives.

"They assumed it was a derivate of an earth language," Daniel explained. "It's that kind of assumptions that makes for inadequate translations. When dealing with a previously unknown language one has to put all preconceptions aside. If you assume anything it will just stop you from seeing what is really there, since you'll only see what you expect to see. Of course one must apply some logic language construction theory to be able to make any sense of it at all but initially it is more a matter of going in blind and see what you find."

"And what did you find?" Sam inquired curiously, being as always a gratifying recipient for the exposition of Daniel's finds. Even if their subjects of expertise were utterly divided they had always been united in the excited geekdom of science.

"It does have links to Turkish and Hindi," Daniel continued, "but unlike the linguistics department assumed it is not a derivate. In fact, this language more likely predates those languages and could be at least a partial source for both of them."

"But you've got the language figured out?"

"Well, sort of. The fact that its written form is completely alien makes it harder to decipher, but I think I have at least figured out the words you brought me. I'm going to have to work more on it though to actually be able to read whatever information is in the data base. Deciphering a few words is very different from understanding the entire language structure. I'll get right on it if you just give me something to work with."

"Not until tomorrow, Danny-boy!" Jack's voice sailed in from the living room. "Or maybe the day after that."

Daniel made a grimace, but nodded conceding when Sam gave him a look that enforced Jack's message of 'Time for some rest'. Stifling a yawn he steered himself towards his room. _I guess I do need some sleep_.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Daniel jotted a note on the printout in his hand. He was in Sam's lab working on the translation of the data base, as he had been most of the time since he had been allowed back to work a week earlier.

When he had come in to the SGC for his second session of physical therapy with Lieutenant Johnson, Dr Fraiser had been waiting in the gym with her.

"I heard you've been doing some work," she had said, and even though the remark hadn't been particularly pointed it still made him feel like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Before he had time to begin defending himself she continued, "so I figured I should come down and see how you're doing, and if it might be time to officially let you get back to work, at least in some extent."

The therapy went better than the first time and after Janet had wrangled an honest response out of him regarding how he felt, she had allowed him to start working fifty percent. As condition she had made him promise to take it easy and ordered him a mandatory rest in the middle of the day, all packaged with a threat of sending him home again if he didn't keep his promise. Consequently Daniel was doing his best to abide by the doctor's orders, even if it often was difficult for him to tear himself away from his work.

His friends and teammates gladly pitched in to help, in particular Teal'c who had appointed himself as Daniel's personal assistant. He could be found at his side as soon as the archaeologist entered the base, lending a hand whenever he needed it and then fading into the background until he was needed again. At the moment however he was not present in the lab; he and Sam had left a while ago to get themselves a bite to eat. Daniel had promised he would join them shortly, but engrossed in the translation he had lost track of time. He had felt on the verge of a real breakthrough all day, and he could finally almost make it out.

"Time for supper, ant-boy!"

Jack bounded into the lab, his chirpy exclamation ripping Daniel away from his concentration and banishing the breakthrough beyond his grasp again. As he ran the colonel's declaration through his mind a slight frown appeared on his brow.

"Ant-boy?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Yup! You work like an ant," Jack explained flippantly and gave him a grin. "But now it's time to eat. Come on, let's go!" Without waiting for Daniel's permission he grabbed the handles on his wheelchair and pulled him out from under the table.

"Hey!" Daniel hurried to put down his pen and grab for the wheels, but Jack just carried on and wheeled him out into the corridor.

"I can do that myself," Daniel objected indignantly and received an amused snort from behind his back.

"I know you can, Daniel, but now I'm doing it."

Daniel sighed and resigned himself to being rolled down the gray halls, just feeling slightly embarrassed at the incapacitating notion. He comforted himself with that the base at least seemed to be abandoned so no one could witness his humiliation. _On second thought, why is it abandoned?_ It wasn't late at night, when the base would usually be less populated. His wristwatch put the time to be just after five o'clock in the afternoon, so the base should be teeming with activity.

"Where is everybody?" he vocalized his concern to Jack.

"I don't know."

Daniel could almost hear the shrug that followed the nonchalant answer, so typically Jack and still somehow ringing falsely. He tilted his head backwards so he could catch a glimpse of the colonel's face. His expression was as carefree as his statement had been, but when he saw that Daniel was looking at him he studiously avoided meeting his gaze. The behavior only increased Daniel's suspicion.

"What's going on?" he asked, grabbing the wheels to halt their progress down the corridor.

Jack swatted at his hands and kept going while he explained away the unpopulated hallway with the same nonchalant tone of voice as before.

"Nothing is going on. Everyone except you probably just saw the reason in eating at regular hours and went to have dinner, like we are going to do."

Daniel tried to get a hold of the wheels again, but it was hard to do without hurting himself on the spinning spokes. Reluctantly admitting defeat on that front he focused on contesting Jack's odd explanation.

"You want me to believe that every single person on the base all of a sudden decided to have dinner at the same time? They don't do that, you know."

"Just because you don't eat unless you're told to, doesn't mean other people don't do it regularly – you know, the way people are meant to."

"Yeah, but that people eat regularly doesn't mean they all eat at the same time, Jack. There isn't even enough room in the commissary for everyone who works here. The whole system is built around people eating at different times."

Daniel silenced to see how his words would sit with the colonel, but Jack seemed to have no retort in store for his logic.

"By the way," he added with a hint of a gibe in his voice. "Shouldn't you be suspecting some kind of alien influence if everyone is suddenly doing the same thing at the same time?"

"Me? Why should I be the one to notice it? Maybe I'm under the influence as well…whooooo…" Jack finished the sentence with a – hardly – spooky noise. Daniel shook his head.

"Nah, if you were affected you'd be doing the same thing as everyone else; having dinner with the rest of the base and not fetching me like a bastardized version of a nanny."

The image conjured up by Daniel's simile made them both hush for a moment in consideration. Then a smile tugged on Jack's lips and the wrinkles formed around Daniel's eyes, and as on cue they both burst out laughing.

"I guess we're both good then," Jack huffed out between the bursts of laughter, "as long as you forget to eat and I come running to fetch you. And if the rest of them are taken over by alien forces, we'll just have to save them. It's not like it's the first time."

That made them laugh even harder, to the point where Jack had to stop and steady himself against the wall to not fall over. The sight of his friend leaning on the concrete wall to regain control over his humor-stricken legs made Daniel double over with another burst of laughter, and he was suddenly happy he was in a wheelchair so he didn't have to deal with the trouble of staying on his feet.

At length Jack pulled himself together and resumed the journey towards the commissary, pushing the still chuckling Daniel in front of him.

When they came around the last corner Daniel saw that the lights were out in the commissary, the darkness inside turning the window panes in the doors dim and brooding. _Everyone's eating, huh?_ Daniel questioned in his mind, his jesting concern from before becoming more serious as he was rolled closer to the spookily abandoned dining room. Jack let him go a few meters from the door and circled around him to push it open.

Daniel hesitated, but quickly reprimanded himself. _Don't be silly, there's nothing wrong._ He shook off the superstitious conclusion jumps of his mind and steered himself into the room. The door closed behind his back with a flip, flip, flip as it gently rocked back and forth on its hinges. Jack disappeared into the compact darkness beyond, and Daniel assumed he had gone to find the light switch.

The seconds stretched out before him into the shadows, making his creepy sensors start to itch again. He was just about to call out for Jack, when…

"SURPRISE!"

The lights came on and a multi voiced explosion of cheering erupted, like the flash of lightning followed by the clash of thunder. The sudden sound hit Daniel like a shock wave, and for the second time in the distance from Sam's lab he was glad to already be sitting down.

The event without delay placed itself into the short list of rare occasions in Daniel's life that had left him completely speechless. A small, still cognizant, part of his mind observed the fact that his mouth was wide open, its round shape mirrored in the staring blue orbs that was his eyes, and probably lending him a distinct birdhouse resemblance. Sure enough, when Jack returned to his side he couldn't help but comment on it.

"Close your mouth, Daniel, before a bird flies in there and builds a nest."

Daniel slammed his mouth shut and threw a half furious half amused look his way.

"What is this?"

"A party! I thought the decorations kind of gave it away." Jack faked a confused look around the room and Daniel followed his gaze to take in the astonishing sight in front of him.

It seemed the entire SGC had in fact found a way to squeeze themselves into the commissary for the occasion. The usually dull gray room had been decorated with balloons and streamers that at least lifted its spirit raising capabilities a bit. There was cake. Daniel spotted it on a table and knew it must have been Jack that had insisted that there should be. The table also held a plentitude of food that looked so delicious it must have been prepared anywhere but in the base kitchen. A minimal amount of alcoholic drink per person had been authorized by General Hammond, a privilege that he as well as everyone else took advantage of as soon as the cheering subsided and the mingling began.

It still perplexed Daniel a bit how much warmth the family of personnel at the SGC were able to show each other, despite their rather strict military protocol. Their 'sir's and 'ma'am's were as full of love and real respect as any first name basis institution he had ever worked at. And now they all seemed to have come together to celebrate him.

After his descension he had been told that he was the hero of most people around the base. The statement had stood in bright contrast to what his memories had told him when they returned. He had remembered being the scientist on the outside of the macho culture of an air force base, getting pranked and mocked for his more than a little social awkwardness. He even remembered Jack harassing him to no end about being a geek, even if the teasing had become more good natured as their friendship deepened.

Asking the rest of SG-1 about it he finally came to understand that the fact that he hadn't known he was a hero before he 'died' said more about him than anyone else. Despite apparently having risked and even given his life for the people of SGC and millions unknown others, Daniel just never viewed himself that way. It didn't matter how many times anyone told him he was a hero; it just didn't fit in his image of himself.

When the holes in his memory filled out more Daniel had relived a few of the epic parties in SGC history. Most of them had been thrown in SG-1's honor when they'd saved the world for the whatnot umpteenth time. He also remembered his embarrassment in each and every one of them; the very same embarrassment that now made his cheeks flame crimson red as the entire room applauded his entrance.

It was a relief, if only brief, when the complete focus on him eased up as the party got started. From the moment he entered the room to the thundering welcome, Daniel still found himself the constant centre of attention. At every turn there was someone who wanted to assure him of exactly how much he'd meant to them, inspired them and over all let him know how glad they were of having him back at the SGC. As heartwarming as it was, it was frankly equally overwhelming as well.

Unbeknownst to Daniel, a member of SG-1 was at his side at all times. They were watching over him to without delay notice when the attention was beginning to get too much. He didn't become aware of their presence until Teal'c interjected himself between him and yet another eager felicitator. Daniel had tried his best to not let his smile falter, but it was becoming harder by the minute. Teal'c's dark mountain of a body effectively imposed on the surroundings that disturbing the guest of honor would not be a wise decision at the moment, as he turned his concerned eyes to him.

"Do you wish to retire, DanielJackson?" he rumbled in his deep voice.

Daniel began to shake his head, but paused to actually consider. At his checkup only the day before Janet had been adamant about him not overexerting himself. He had thought it was just her usual doctory cautioning, but in the light of this evening he suspected she had actually been in on the planning of the party. His friends must have consulted her to make sure he could take the excitement. The thought was so touching it made the tears well up in his eyes as he nodded to his answer to Teal'c's question.

Making eye contact with Jack and Sam across the room Teal'c grabbed Daniel's chair and started weaving their way through the crowd. The connection between the members of SG-1 was their previously agreed signal to converge and facilitate Daniel's exit, effectively acting as body guards who cleared a way and cut off anyone who intended to speak to him.

Well out of the commissary Jack took over from Teal'c, and after swinging by Sam's office to pick up Daniel's jacket he proceeded to bring the increasingly heavy-eyed archaeologist home.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The piercing sound of the klaxons permeated the halls of SGC, and sent the adrenaline pumping through the veins of every person on the base. In between the blaring came Walter's voice on the PA:

"Unscheduled off-world activation! Security to the 'gate-room!"

The request was routine, as were the actions of said security personnel whose boot-shoot footfalls already echoed through the hallways. The security in place the heavy duty blast doors closed behind them, assuring that whatever came through the gate would not get further than the well-like room even if the soldiers failed to defend it.

As always a few certain members of SGC-personnel assembled to the control-room unasked. General Hammond was there, because to him it was the place for a commander in such situations, and SG-1, because their dedication to their work commanded it. Wheeling his way through the halls tinted red by the flashers, Daniel cursed the chair that made him unable to sprint to the control-room as he was used to. Eventually he made it there, as the last member of the team, only to realize that the few steps up was an insurmountable obstacle.

"Damn it!" His muttered curse should barely have been audible through the noise of blaring alarms and running soldiers, but Teal'c heard him and came to his aid. _Must be that superior Jaffa hearing._ The Jaffa's extraordinary muscles also came in handy as he literally lifted Daniel, wheelchair and all, up the stairs.

"Thanks," Daniel breathed in awe, for a moment forgetful of the situation developing around him. Then it all came rushing back as General Hammond ordered:

"Report, Sergeant! And shut that infernal noise up."

With a push of a button Walter, who was the technician on duty, silenced the alarm and turned to the base's CO.

"It's an incoming wormhole, sir. Unknown origin; it's not in our data base."

"Any travelers?"

"No, sir, not yet."

"A signal? Anything?"

"No sir. Nothing's coming through…" A loud chime from the main terminal interrupted Walter. "Correction, sir, there's something coming through now, some kind of signal." Before he had finished the sentence the readout on the screen was gone and in the next moment the 'gate shut down.

"What the hell was that?" Jack's outburst summed up the feelings of most everyone in the room. The general nodded but kept his voice more level.

"Sergeant, find out what just happened. Major Carter, give him a hand, will you. Report to me as soon as you have anything."

Walter and Sam nodded in unison, and immediately went to work. Pleased with their efficiency and reassured by years of experience the general returned to his office upstairs. Jack followed him up, placing himself in one of the briefing room chairs to await the result as well.

"Shall I assist you in returning down the steps, DanielJackson?" Daniel was not embarrassed by Teal'c's question. He was beginning to get used to his assistance, in particular since he was the only one on the base who could make it sound like an honor to lend him a hand, instead of a testament to pity – or in Jack's case, teasing. Daniel gratefully smiled at the big man who was respectfully awaiting his answer.

"No thank you, Teal'c. I think I'm going to stay here. In case something else happens it would be unnecessary to have to get up again."

The Jaffa gave his trademark head-inclination.

"As you wish. I will remain as well."

With two of the base's brightest technical minds on the task it didn't take long before the results were in on the mysterious 'gate-activation, Sam called the general down on the intercom, with Jack following in his wake.

"Based on the symbols used in the dial-in we have approximately determined the origin of the wormhole. As Sergeant Walter said it is not a planet we know as of yet. The address is not in the Abydos cartouche or the Ancient data base that Colonel O'Neill entered when he…" Sam interrupted herself when she remembered Jack's feelings about the circumstances that had made him able to add those addresses. She avoided his pleased look and continued, "Either way, there was a signal that came in for just a fraction of a second and then returned through the wormhole, as if it bounced on the iris."

"Like a ping?" Jack interrupted and Sam was glad he had followed suit in focusing on the matter at hand.

"Yes, sir. Exactly like a ping actually."

"What is a 'ping'?" Teal'c posed the question with the special curious tone he reserved for learning about Tauri, and Sam gladly explained.

"It's a technique used by submarines to locate or contact another submarine with sonar. The sonar sends out a sound wave that bounces of the other sub, placing it on the radar while at the same time making a sound against the hull."

Sam's explanation made Daniel's enthusiasm level sky-rocket. He leaned forward as he excitedly shared his conclusion.

"Then it was an attempt to contact us? Do you think it could be the people from PQX-830? I did ask them to send us a message if they were interested in friendship."

The unspoken thoughts electrified the air as each of them considered the plausibility of this. Finally the general broke the silence, his words directed to Sam.

"Your opinion, Major?"

"I'm not sure, sir. The wormhole didn't come from PQX-830; if it did it would have registered as such in the dialing system. In fact, if our calculations are correct it came from almost the opposite end of the Milky Way. I'd say that someone definitely tried to contact us, sir, but it is not very likely it was the people from PQX-830."

"Who else could it be?" Daniel was not ready to give up on the possibility of the off-world activation being the response he'd been waiting for.

"We have no way of knowing," Sam confessed.

"We have the address, don't we? We could go see."

"Sir?" Sam deferred the question to the general, with a mitigating addition. "We could send a MALP."

General Hammond hesitated before nodding.

"I will consider it."

He retreated to his office again to do as he promised, and calculate the risks of sending a MALP to the unknown planet. _The risk isn't too big, is it?_ he asked himself. _The MALP is only a machine after all, and this is precisely why we have them. But if there isn't any immediate danger I know a certain team that will want to go through after, and a certain archaeologist-linguist who will disappointedly have to sit it out. Perhaps I should send a different team…?_ He shook his head to himself._ No, they are number one for a reason. I just hope them missing one isn't going to harm them. _He knew full well he couldn't convince Jack to bring a different linguist. The colonel had made that crystal clear on the very same day they returned with Daniel injured.

"I request you putting SG-1 on stand-down until we know about Daniel," he had said, in that tone of voice the general would never permit any other subordinate to use. Jack had earned it though; as far as Hammond was concerned saving the world multiple times entitled a man to some leeway. Of course, putting the team on stand-down was also the reasonable decision, at least until Dr Fraiser had given her prognosis.

When she had notified him that Daniel might be permanently paralyzed however, he had tried to reason with Jack along the lines of 'it's better to just get out there again'. That boat didn't float very well with the colonel. He had insisted on staying Earth-side.

"I'd rather be permanently grounded, sir," he had claimed.

When the general pushed him for his reasons Jack had taken insubordination to a whole new level and blankly refused to answer, stating that it was between him and Daniel. Hammond had been dumbfounded but finally just wrote it down to the stress of the present situation.

_Perhaps this is an opportunity_, he thought, returning to the question of answering the alien call. _Sending SG-1 will let them find out if they can deal with leaving Daniel behind. _

* * *

General Hammond paused in the door to the briefing room to regard his premier team. He had given them overnight leave before the meeting, allowing for a good night's sleep before facing them with the prospect of separation. The clock ticking to an only-coffee-made-it-so bright 06:58 they were all assembled, if not as well rested as Hammond would have wished.

Sam stifled a yawn. The probable culprit for her lack of sleep was a file lying on the table before her, containing a written analysis of the occurrences of the day before. Daniel was on the other side of the table, flicking a thick binder containing every ounce of information gathered from the PQX-830 database so far while absentmindedly rubbing his eyes. Jack slouched in his chair, a last minute attempt to gather as many seconds of rest as he could. He had never been an early morning kind of person and anyone who knew him was accustomed to the colonel sneaking a snooze whenever possible. The forth member was, as per usual, the only one on the team who seemed alert at the early hour. Teal'c was in his usual attentive position, his never faltering gaze oscillating between his fellow teammates.

Clearing his throat the general entered the room and took his place at the head of the table, ignoring the fact that not even the military members of the team rose to greet him. _They mean no disrespect. _His opening revelation however was more effective to sweep away the drowsiness from the room.

"I have decided to authorize a MALP recon to the coordinates of the off-world activation yesterday," he said, trying not to smile when a full four quarters of SG-1 came to regulation attention in their chairs. "Have you been able to gather any further information from the dial-in data, Major?"

"No, sir. No more than we had yesterday."

"And you, Dr Jackson? Any hints in the PQX-830 data base as to what we might find?"

Despite his thick binder, Daniel's answer was in the negative as well.

"I'm afraid not, sir. The information we have been able to decipher is still too fragmented to be reliable."

"Very well. We will proceed as planned by sending a MALP at 0800 hours tomorrow. If the environment is viable and there are no evident threats I will authorize a team to investigate further. Colonel, I would prefer that team to be SG-1."

The general's last comment, almost phrased as a question, took three fourths of SG-1 by surprise. Every face in the room turned to Jack, who determinately avoided the questioning gazes and fixed his eyes on his CO.

"I will consider it, sir," he said in a hard-set voice, receiving a conceding nod from Hammond before the general left the table. Jack rose to follow suit, but Daniel hurried to wheel himself into his path. He needn't say a word; his crossed arms and eyes that locked into Jack's fully communicated his demand for an explanation. The colonel sighed and flopped back into his chair.

"Fine. We've been on stand down because I told Hammond SG-1 wouldn't be going out without Daniel. If we are going on this mission we would have to do just that, so I have to decide whether we'll be going or not."

"Of course you are going!" Daniel exclaimed, his voice implying that it was the most obvious thing in the world – regardless if he was coming along or not.

"No!" Jack crossed his arms in a mirror image of Daniel. "There is no 'of course' about it. We're a team and we work best at full strength. "

Daniel's face and posture softened.

"I am grateful, Jack, for your…show of loyalty, but this is _way_ too important. You have to go! It'll be fine; it's just once. You said it yourself; I'm not off the team just because I can't go with you right now."

To his own ears Daniel sounded a lot more confident than he felt, but he had more or less promised both Jack and himself to try and be positive. Besides, visiting the aliens that had called for them _was_ too important to throw away because of sentimentalities. The colonel glared at him, huffed another loud sigh and grumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Daniel put a hand behind his ear in a mock gesture of hearing aid.

"Fine!" Jack snarled. "We'll go. There – happy?!"

A grin broke across Daniel's face and he leaned back in his chair.

"Yes, Jack. I'm happy."

In the face of his victorious grin Jack couldn't keep his sulky face straight for long. With a wide smile of his own he jumped up from his seat and waltzed out of the room, shouting over his shoulder something about checking the commissary for pie. Daniel shook his head and left as well, no doubt to get back to work.

Sam watched Jack and Daniel leave, her thoughts for the moment straying from the strange alien dial-in to revolve around the two of them and a riddle she hadn't thought of for days. _Why did Jack ask him to move in?_ Initially she had been curious, friendly interested, but the longer the two men refused to reveal their secret the stranger the secret had become. SG-1 was as tight-knit as any team could be, practically family. _With all we've shared, it's weird that Jack and Daniel are having secrets from me and Teal'c. _It wasn't that they weren't allowed some secrecy, she told herself, but the curiosity awoken by the strangeness of this specific secret was killing her. _Maybe I should recruit Teal'c to help me find out._

"Teal'c…" Sam halted the Jaffa mid-stride as he went to resume his self-imposed occupation as Jackson-aid. "I need your help with something…"


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Daniel?" Sam knocked on the door to her friend's lab as she stepped in. Daniel was as expected at his desk, bent in deep concentration over a clay tablet from P3-something-something that he had taken a break from the data base to have a look at. He held up a hand in the universal sign of 'wait a minute while I finish this'. After jotting down a few notes on a pad he straightened up and turned to her with an inviting smile.

"How's it going?" she asked with a gesture to his work.

"Good. This tablet from SG-11's expedition to P35-996 is really interesting. It's written in cuneiform, and I think I've pretty much gotten the translation done. It's simple actually; just some kind of business deal or contract. But it might prove rather informative about the lives of the people on that planet – and on Earth in the time of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires."

Sam nodded interestedly, but Daniel could tell there was something on her mind.

"You didn't come here to hear about the tablet did you?" he commented non-accusingly. Despite his kind tone she felt a wave of guilt when she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, it is really interesting, but no."

Daniel waved off her apology.

"What is it? You can ask me anything…"

"Why did the colonel ask you to move in with him?"

"Except that! Sam, I…I can't talk about that."

"Come on, just between us. It can't be that big of a deal?"

Her coaxing had no effect on Daniel, who just shook his head and gave her another answer vague on content but clear on message.

"Jack doesn't want it to get out. That's why we didn't tell anyone."

"Want what to get out?" she tried one last time, but Daniel smiled and shook his head again.

"Nice try, Sam. If you really want to know I suggest you talk to Jack. He would kick my ass if I told you."

"Can't blame a girl for trying."

Sam gave a mock pout and left him to his work, hoping that her answers would indeed come from another source.

* * *

As a rare occasion of monumental scale, Jack was in his office catching up on a heap of backlogged paperwork. He didn't like doing it, but since he had requested himself and his team on stand down he didn't actually have anything else to do. General Hammond had practically ordered him to set pen to paper, and Jack suspected it was partly to make him want to get out on the field again. Being as he was rarely to be found in his office, Jack was – happily – surprised to have his work interrupted by a curt knock on the door.

"Enter," he called, and the door opened to admit Teal'c. Jack's delight at being interrupted intensified, the feeling reflecting in the broad grin lightening on his face.

"Well hello, Teal'c," he said and put down his pen to stretch his fingers. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"I wish to inquire of you on a matter that grates at my curiosity."

Teal'c spoke in his typical stilted way, which forced Jack to run the sentence twice through his mind to figure out what he meant.

"What is it you wanna ask?" he rephrased, in part to make sure he had gotten it right.

"I wish to inquire of you the reason that you requested DanielJackson to share your home. And why you found this necessary to be kept from SamanthaCarter and myself."

Teal'c's words were as level and measured as always, but there was a barb in the innocent questions that insidiously dug itself into Jack's heart. Yet he was not about to give in that easily. The secrets he kept were secrets for a reason.

"T, man, this is precisely why we didn't tell anyone. Everyone makes such a big deal out of it. It's a practical arrangement, nothing else."

"I am sorry, my warrior brother."

Teal'c bowed his head in a sorrowful nod. The little motion tugged at the barb that had lodged itself within Jack, like a fishing line tugging at the hook. He shook his head.

"You don't have to apologize for asking, Teal'c. There's just nothing to tell."

"I am not sorry for inquiring, it is my regret that I cannot believe you, O'Neill."

Jack felt his chin drop, unable to pick it up as Teal'c continued,

"I also regret that you do not trust me with the truth after all we have faced together."

Subconsciously Jack ran his fingers through his hair; a futile attempt to push away the mounting feeling of guilt. Realizing what he was doing he snapped his eyes to Teal'c.

"Really, Teal'c? You're giving me the guilt trip?"

"I was not aware of bestowing a journey of blame…"

Teal'c's confusion made Jack mentally kick himself.

"It's an expression," he explained. "It means you're trying to make me feel bad so I'll tell you what you want to know."

Teal'c remained silent, admitting to nothing, but the lack of expression on his face was as blatant as any confession. It couldn't have been more enervating if the man had right out blackmailed him for the answer.

"Nahuh, no, no…" Jack rose and rounded the desk. Grabbing his friend's sturdy shoulders he tried to half shove, half guide him out of the room, but Teal'c stood rooted to the floor. With a sigh Jack gave up on forcing him out, returning to trying to convince him to leave by words."I don't want to talk about it, okay?!"

The only reaction from Teal'c was a slight relaxation of his stance. The movement only added to Jack's defeat, as he recognized it as an adjustment into the guarding position Teal'c could hold for hours if necessary. Jack plunked back down in his chair.

"I'm not gonna talk no matter how long you stay there," he tried with a mix of weary irritation, but still Teal'c said nothing.

Unable to win and unwilling to admit defeat, Jack decided to ignore him and instead focus on his work. He worked hard for an hour, studiously avoiding lifting his gaze. Finally there were no more papers to sign, no more reports to correct, and no more obscure request forms to fill out. Sneaking a peek up he saw that Teal'c was still in his spot in front of the door, regarding him with the same fixed gaze as an hour ago. _I'm not even sure he has blinked since he entered_, Jack thought.

An idea for a last resort of escape dawning, Jack gathered the papers destined for the general's desk and steered his steps towards the door. To his surprise Teal'c stepped aside to let him out, but that was where his luck ran out. As he headed for Hammonds office Teal'c fell in behind him, a silent shadow slowly but surely waning on his patience.

When he reached the general's open door Jack stuck his head in, and on Hammond's inviting wave he stepped in to hand over his stack of reports and forms.

"I'm impressed, Colonel," the general said, accepting the pile and flipping through it. Jack pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

"Stone face here wouldn't leave me alone so there wasn't much else to do." The irritation in Jack's voice didn't pass the general by, but Hammond tried to keep his tone light as he commented on the silent presence a step behind Jack.

"I should have Teal'c hover over you every time I need to get the reports in on time. Why did he?"

"No reason." Jack's reply was hurried, and obviously intended to ward off the question. He cringed when Teal'c stepped forward to answer in his stead.

"I have inquired O'Neill concerning a secret and I am awaiting his explanation."

"A secret, colonel?" Hammond turned a curious gaze back to Jack, making the colonel roll his eyes and shoot an angry look towards Teal'c.

"Yes, sir, a secret. But I'm not telling." Jack knew he sounded like an obstinate kid, but decided not to do anything about it. He wasn't going to spill his beans about the real reasons for asking Daniel to move in, especially not to the general. There was far too great a risk of him landing in a heart to heart with Dr. Mackenzie. _And I do not need a shrink. _

The general suppressed an amused grin attempting to curve his lips. He was definitely curious about the colonel's secret but he decided to have mercy on him.

"Teal'c, leave O'Neill alone. I'm sure he'll come around if you give him some space."

"As you wish." Teal'c gave the general one of his curt bows and left the room.

"Thank you, sir." Jack turned to leave as well, but paused as Hammond replied.

"You're welcome, son. But colonel, you know well enough that secrets aren't particularly good for team dynamics."

The general's words refused to leave Jack as he went about his business the rest of the day. Heading up to the gym it echoed in his mind, 'secrets'. As he ate his dinner in the commissary he heard, 'team dynamics'.

"Darn you, general," he muttered walking down the hallway to pick Daniel up and go home. He kept the visit from Teal'c to himself, but it grated on his mind well into the night and sent him twisting and turning before he finally fell asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The MALP rolled up the metal ramp toward the Stargate and paused an inch from the shimmering event horizon. Sam glanced behind her to the general, who was standing by her with the rest SG-1. He gave her an affirmative nod to go ahead and she moved the clunky reconnaissance vehicle forward again.

The computers followed the MALP as it was almost instantaneously transported the hundreds of light years across the galaxy. Jack made eye contact with Daniel across the room. They had a silent bet as to whether the planet would place itself in the desert or forest category. The room itself seemed to hold its breath in anticipation of the signals from the MALP's various instruments.

The computer signaled that the vehicle had reached its destination, but still every meter on the monitors remained blank. The camera showed no images, and the indicators for air quality and radiation didn't move a fraction. A hand landed on Sam's shoulder; the general's unvoiced inquiry as to what was going on.

"I don't know, sir," she mumbled and tapped a few keys to adjust the instruments on the MALP. There was no visible reaction on the monitors. She tried a different modification but with no more success.

A technician standing to her right let out a sharp gasp. Sam looked up and saw the young woman pointing fervently out into the gate-room at the Stargate. The major, and everyone else in the room, followed the technician's gaze. The puddle shook and rippled like a pool of water shaken by the first tremors of an earthquake. For a moment a dozen eyes stared at it, unable to make sense of the 'gate's aberrant behavior. Then the control room and gate-room alike erupted in activity when the puddle gave a last violent heave and spewed out the MALP. The guards in the gate-room removed the safeties from their weapons with a series of clicks, but the wormhole disengaged before they had even gotten into position.

Sam jumped up and rushed down the stairs to the gate-room, followed by General Hammond and the rest of SG-1. She approached the MALP carefully, hesitantly scanning it for anything amiss. Nothing seemed out of order – except for the fact that it had just returned through an outgoing wormhole, something she'd thought was impossible. Siler and a couple of other scientists entered suited up in full hazmat gear and carrying an array of different measuring tools to scan the MALP for any invisible alien substances or radiation.

Jack circled around the hubbub, his eyes flitting back and forth between the 'gate and the MALP. He scrunched his face up in thought, then called to Sam:

"Am I mistaken, Carter, or haven't you always said matter can't go both ways through a wormhole?"

"Yes, sir. Everything we know about physics and the Stargate technology says it can't."

"Then how did the MALP just go through the 'gate and then come back again without redialing from the other side?"

Sam shook her head. She may be the singular expert on the Stargate, but this was beyond anything they had ever encountered before. It contradicted her very understanding of the technology.

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't know how it did that. I'll have to run a diagnostic, maybe it was some sort of malfunction. We did return to our point of departure that time when we time-travelled because of the solar flare, it could be something similar to that."

The hazmat herd fished their inspection and Siler shooed them back to their labs before he reported to the general.

"It's clean, sir."

Hammond, who had been listening to Jack's and Sam's exchange, waved him off with an acknowledging nod.

"Run those tests, Major," he said to Sam. "I want a report on my desk by 1800 hours. We'll reevaluate exploration of the planet depending on what you find."

"Yes, sir."

Sam hurried up to the control room and retook her seat at the main monitor. She pulled up the readings from the dialup and began studying the data. On first glance nothing stood out, so with a disappointed sigh she turned to applying the diagnostics program. It often detected discrepancies that her human eyes could not perceive, but it took more time to process the information as it took every minute variable into account in the analysis.

Leaning back and stretching her by tension and excitement stiffened back, she spotted Daniel by her side. Teal'c was also there, true to his role as the wheelchair bound archaeologist's discrete shadow. _Almost like a body guard_, Sam thought with warmth.

When she first met Teal'c he had intrigued her with his silent mysteriousness. Over the years she had learned that the stoic exterior that some perceived as hard, hid a warm and tender heart that beat especially for the few privileged to consider him their friend. _Like Daniel. _As with most everyone Daniel had had an effect on the big Jaffa, endearing himself to that tender heart to the point where Teal'c referred to him as his heart brother. Sometimes Sam wondered if two of them realized what an odd couple of friends they were. _Then again, SG-1 is an odd team._ However, as odd as they were, the team worked, and through all they had shared they had all become the closest of friends.

"How's it going?"

Daniel's question interrupted her thoughts. She followed his gesture to the computer with her eyes and shrugged.

"I couldn't find anything at first glance so I'm running a proper diagnostic. It'll be a few hours before it's done."

"Do you want me to wait with you?"

Sam smiled her thanks and they both settled in for the computer geek version of watching paint dry.

Three hours later a loud ping woke them from painfully awkward sleeping positions in their respective chairs. The ping was the diagnostic program's signal that the analysis of the Stargate operations was finished. Sam sat up with eagerness, and a loud groan of pain, to scan the results on the monitor. All of them were normal, save one. She hurriedly printed out the readings and was already on her way up to the general's office when she realized two things. One, Daniel was looking at her with an inquiring and slightly longing expression on his face that told her he was insufferably curious about what the diagnostic had yielded. Two, it could only be around lunch and the general hadn't asked her to have any results for him until the evening.

She halted with her foot on the first step of the stairs and spun on her heel. Equally excitedly as she had been about to hurry upstairs, she hurried back to Daniel to show him her findings. The next five hours they spent scouring the readings and discussing every thinkable interpretation of the discrepancy. Finally, just before six o'clock, Sam scaled the stairs and knocked on General Hammond's door. He waved her into the briefing room, where the rest of SG-1 was already assembled.

"There was an odd reading when the MALP returned," Sam opened. "I thought it was a bit familiar, and then Daniel helped me figure out where I'd seen it before. The same thing showed up when we were pinged yesterday. That signal bounced back right after it came through, so perhaps the people on the other side used whatever made the signal bounce to make the MALP do the same."

"Why would they do that?" the general asked and leaned forward. "Were we wrong to assume that the 'ping' was their way of calling for us?"

"Perhaps they want us to come in person?" Daniel speculated, and received a concerned look from Hammond.

"I'm not sure I am comfortable with that idea. The risk is too great with no indications as to what's on the other side. What if the same thing happens to you as with the MALP, can a human being survive that, Major?"

"We've gone in blind plenty of times, sir," Jack shot in before Sam could answer, and Daniel followed up with a more substantial argument.

"If the people of this planet are really the same as those who used to live on PQX-830 everything we know of them points to a peaceful and welcoming people. Their transportation devices, practically running on belief, and the data base suggest that they have advanced technology. It is not impossible that they may let a living being through even if they sent the MALP back. I really do believe that the 'ping' was a call for us to come see them, sir."

Hammond leaned back and turned his eyes skyward while he considered. The colonel was right; SG-1 had gone in blind plenty of times, both with and without his approval. Dr. Jackson had a point as well. _If_ their assumption that this was the people from PQX-830 was correct everything did point in the direction that Daniel had said. On the other hand, he never liked sending a team in blind. It was a desperate measure he saved for desperate times. _This doesn't really qualify, does it?!_ On the…_third hand?..._the data base, and the people who had written it, was possibly a source of knowledge that could be greatly beneficial to Earth. Not able to come to a decision he turned to Sam.

"What do you think, Major? Would it be safe to send a team through?"

"I think the possible benefits outweigh the risks, sir," Sam ventured. "Despite the MALP returning there's nothing that points to hostility. Just like Daniel says, the people of PQX-830 seemed to welcome visitors. There's also no indications that what happened to the MALP would be harmful to a human being, if we don't get through. It was reintegrated back here just like it would have been on arrival on another planet."

The general turned to Jack. _Just one final issue to settle._

"Colonel, if I authorize this mission, will I be able to be sending SG-1?"

Jack nod was stilted, clearly conveying that he wasn't entirely happy with the decision he had made. It was after all only on Daniel's insistence that he was agreeing. The general dismissed them, and went to go find out an appropriate window for their mission in the Stargate-schedule. The more SG-teams that had been formed, the more complicated it had become to plan their departures, returns and check-ins through the 'gate.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The Stargate reintegrated SG-1 on the edge of a small pond surrounded by smooth sand dunes and shadowing palm trees. The air was hot, but the shade from the trees provided them with welcome coolness. A pathway tiled with red octahedral bricks ran in an arch around the pond and meandered its way towards a group of clay buildings. It was an idyllic scene that immediately put the team at ease.

While they were still taking in the tranquil sight a figure appeared from between the buildings and began walking the path towards them, slowly becoming clearer out of the heat-quavering air. Jack strained his eyes to see.

"Carter? Am I seeing wrong or does that woman not have any legs?"

Sam squinted through the haze. The woman drawing nearer seemed to be floating a few feet above the ground. Her body was cut off at the waist, and the area where her legs should have been was enveloped in a cloud of pink smoke that twisted around itself like a tiny tornado. When she reached the Stargate-platform she halted and greeted them with a wide smile. Jack tried to gather his dumbfounded wits to address her.

"Ehm…Hi!" _Daniel is so much better at this than me. _

"Welcome travelers of Earth." Her voice was soft, with an oriental melody to her words. The orientality resounded in her appearance, her black hair flowing in large locks around her round face. Her eyes were dark and framed by extraordinary long eyelashes that fluttered like butterflies on her olive-skinned cheeks. She was beautiful, Jack reflected, even though her lack of a lower body was a bit disturbing. He stubbornly tried to avoid the path his mind attempted to go but he couldn't help noticing that her entire form had a striking similarity to a genie.

"Thanks," he finally managed but had nothing more. He glanced towards Sam to save him from attempting, and failing, to impersonate Daniel. With an understanding nod she stepped forward to take over.

"Hello. My name is Samantha Carter. We are peaceful explorers." The woman smiled graciously, and knowingly, but let Sam go on. "Our Stargate was dialed from this location with a signal bouncing off our iris. We interpreted it as an invitation, so we came to meet whoever sent it. Are you, or your people, the ones we're looking for?"

Jack nodded approvingly. _Not as good as Daniel, but still better than me. _The woman seemed pleased enough when she spoke again.

"We are the ones you seek. Come. We have much to speak about and we may do so in the meeting house."

With an inviting gesture she turned and began walking back along the path toward the collection of buildings. Out of the protecting shade of the palm-trees the baking sun was broiling hot, reminding the three visitors of their last trip off-world. Fortunately the meeting house was the very first of the buildings in the village and held a welcome coolness.

The meeting house held a single room furnished with a ring of five low divans. On the floor lay layers of multicolored carpets, again leading Jack's mind to the orient. The clay walls at first seemed undecorated but as their eyes adapted to the gloomier light inside the members of SG-1 realized there were in fact images on them, drawn in the clay when it was still wet. The images were elegant and incredibly detailed, and Jack couldn't even begin to grasp what they may be depicting. _Daniel would have loved this_, he thought and added out loud:

"Carter, make sure we get some pictures of this for Daniel."

The woman – _genie_ – descended on one of the divans with a gesture for them to do the same. Jack sat down on the edge of the divan opposite her, Sam and Teal'c taking seats on either side of him.

"You have questions," she began when they were all seated. "My form is startling to you and this is understandable. This is a new circumstance for us as well."

"You don't get a lot of visitors?" Sam asked. The woman made a strange combination of a shake and a nod with her head.

"We do, but your path here is not the path of most."

"How so?" This time it was Jack who asked.

"You come at this point in time because we called for you, but this is not usually our way. The heavens have decreed that you must come to us at this junction of events and thus we have altered our way to follow their lead."

"How do people find you otherwise?" Sam retook the conversation.

"The objects you received in the ceremony of Gifts would eventually have led you here. If you had followed that slower path you would have understood many things that you do not know now. All is put forth in our gifts, particularly the one you refer to as the data base."

_The ceremony of Gifts? The data base?_ Sam quickly joined the dots.

"You're the people from PQX-830! But why would you leave those things on a whole different planet? Anyone could find it there, and find you."

"There's a whole bunch of bad people in this galaxy, you know," Jack added but their host shook her head at their warnings.

"The planet where you performed the ceremony of Gifts was once our home, but as water became scarce we decided to leave it and find a new home. We came here, but left a path for our visitors to follow after us. Be not deceived however by our openness. Looks can be deceiving as you well know." Her eyes locked into Jack's, and all of a sudden his thoughts went to a seemingly naïve race called the Nox, with whom his own good but completely misplaced intentions had almost had disastrous consequences. He nodded as the woman continued. "We have ways of defense and the very path we constructed for our visitors to follow is built to weed out the ill-minded. The one without a pure heart cannot find us no matter how he searches."

"Defenses? Is that why the MALP was unable to give us any readings and then come back to Earth through the outgoing wormhole?" Sam asked.

"The MALP?" The woman appeared confused for a moment, but then realization dawned on her face. "Yes, your metal precursor. It was unknown and thus we returned it to whence it came. We are glad you decided to come anyway. Your arrival is important."

"Why is it important? Why did you call for us if it isn't the way you usually do things?"

"The condition of the galaxy now and in the future demanded swift action when your message reached us. Reading the signs we have impatiently awaited the rise of Earth in the galactic dance. Your planet, and the four of you in particular, hold a singularly unique place in this dance, a fate to determine the fate of the galaxy."

Jack looked around the room and cleared his throat.

"Actually there are only three of us."

His words made their host look around as well. She seemed confused, as if she for the first time noticed there were indeed only three visitors.

"We have seen four," she said. "Where is the one called Daniel Jackson?"

"He couldn't come." Jack's response was short and full of things held back, but he stubbornly met the dark knowing eyes that seemed to drill in through his skull. Finally she released his gaze and rose, or rather floated from her laidback position to upright.

"His injury is unfortunate, but he has yet a crucial part to play. He must join us before we may speak further. Then we may also speak in my mother tongue, or at least one of our daughter tongues, as we prefer."

"Wait!" Jack jumped to his feet as well. "That's it?"

"Retrieve your friend, Jack O'Neill. Then we will continue. Rest, refresh, and be on your way."

And with that and a puff of pink smoke, she was gone, disappearing into thin air like a cheap magic trick. In the same instant a table appeared in the centre of the room, laden with every thinkable food. All the favorites of each team member were there, including a huge bowl of blue jell-o, deep fried chicken wings and a pile of perfectly medium rare steaks.

"Well, that was…odd," Jack commented while hesitantly approaching the table. "Looks like they know how to spoil their guests, though."

He picked up a chicken wing and studied it intensely before he stuck it in his mouth with an apprehensive expression. After chewing and swallowing he affirmed:

"Yup, definitely know how to spoil their guests. Come get some." He waved for Sam and Teal'c to join him as he shoveled a pile of food onto a silver plate and brought it back to his divan.

After they had eaten their fill – and debated their host's words, appearance and means of transportation – the smorgasbord of delights disappeared. Since there was nothing else to do without abusing the natives' hospitality, SG-1 decided to do as they were asked and head back home. Whether they would be bringing Daniel as the woman had asked would be for General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser to decide.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

The general met them in the gate-room, as was his way when a team returned.

"How did it go, SG-1?"

"Good, sir. Well…sort of good."

"Sort of, Colonel?"

"It was short but sweet, sir. Nice place, nice people. Turns out it was the people from PQX-830. But they won't talk to us again unless we bring Daniel. His tape must have made quite an impression."

For some reason Jack didn't even understand himself he didn't mention the alien woman's cryptic talk about their fate-deciding role to play. After all, he didn't really believe in all that "read-it-in-the-stars" mumbo jumbo. On the other hand there was something about the way she had spoken that grated at his nerves. She had known things, things she couldn't possibly know. He just hoped Hammond, and Fraiser, would agree to letting Daniel go – and that it wouldn't turn out to be a mistake by everything blowing up in their faces for the millionth time.

Hammond set the debrief for half an hour later and sent the team to the showers. Then he headed for the infirmary to speak with his CMO. He knew she would most likely not be very happy about the aliens' request.

* * *

Janet was at her desk catching up on some journaling when the general stepped into her office with a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said and rose to greet him. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"SG-1 is back. I need you to join the debriefing. No one is injured," he quickly added and the worry that had begun to make its way to her eyes retreated again, leaving only curiosity behind. _Could there be some medical issue with the planet or its inhabitants?_

Next the general headed for the briefing room, where he knew he would find Daniel. The archaeologist had been planted there ever since SG-1 embarked on their mission without him. Alternating between staring out the big windows at the Stargate and listlessly working on the translation of the data base from PQX-830, he had anxiously awaited the return of his friends. Now that they were back, all in one piece, he would subsequently be waiting to join the debriefing. _Even if he wasn't invited there would be on keeping him out,_ Hammond thought with a smirk as he stepped into the briefing room and spotted the man already sitting at the table.

"Dr. Jackson."

Daniel's head snapped up from the documents spread out over the table in front of him. Over the few hours since SG-1 departed through the 'gate he had already transformed the oblong briefing table into another replica of his own mess of a desk.

"Gather your things, son," Hammond said with a hint of amusement. "SG-1 is debriefing in fifteen minutes and we'll be needing both the table and you for it."

"Did they find something, sir?" Daniel couldn't help but ask as he raked up his papers into a pile that would have given any organized person nightmares.

"I'll let them tell you," the general replied with a nod to the team entering behind him. When they all were seated, including Dr Fraiser, he took the word.

"Go ahead, colonel, what did you find?"

"It was a desert planet, kind of like the sand-pit." Everyone nodded – they recognized the none to loving nickname Jack had given PQX-830. "But this one had some water at least. There was a pond right by the gate. We made contact with the people, or one of them. Not human but friendly. She said they were the people who left the data chip and that souvenir in the underground room, for people to be able to find them. They did call for us too, but they wouldn't go into why until..." He glanced between the general and Daniel.

"What? Until what?" Daniel was almost literally on the edge of his seat.

"They wanted us to go fetch you," Jack responded, and both he and Hammond knew what it meant that the words had been spoken out loud. _The kid ain't gonna give up until he's allowed to go._

To their surprise Daniel didn't immediately break into a flood of arguments for him to answer the alien's invitation. Instead he seemed to deflate, his eager eyes diverting from Jack's face to the table where his hands were suddenly writhing together franticly. The room fell silent as everyone in it completely failed to come to grasp with this uncharacteristic behavior. Finally Janet was the first to chance at the course of Daniel's thoughts. She turned to Jack.

"Colonel," she said. It wasn't often she spoke as the air force officer she was, but now she did. "What is your threat assessment?"

"None, doc." Jack would have liked to leave it that simply put but he knew she needed good reasons to set aside the risk of letting a severely injured person out into the field.

"Back at the sand-pit," he elaborated, "Daniel said there were no signs of Goa'uld influence in their culture and that the people there probably had always been independent from them. The woman on the planet also assured us that they did in fact have some powerful ways to defend themselves against any and all threats." He left out the part where she had specifically likened her own people to the Nox, even though it was a large part in why he trusted her. It would just sound to crazy to claim she knew about it without him telling her. "The place seemed calm enough and she was friendly and welcoming. And after all, they sent for us remember?! Because they wanted to meet us – including Daniel."

While Jack spoke Daniel didn't dare to lift his eyes, in fear that his hope would lift with them. Janet's question had ignited a tiny spark, since it meant that she was even considering allowing him to go, but he didn't want to give it any more fuel in case he was just going to get disappointed again. His friends didn't have any such qualms however as both Sam and Teal'c chimed in to Jack's account.

"I agree with the colonel," Sam said and added, "The path to the village is paved too so mobility shouldn't be a problem."

"I too concur with O'Neill's assessment, doctor. DanielJackson will be safe, and I shall assure that it is so."

Janet resisted giving in immediately and considered the facts and assurances put before her by SG-1. Her eyes rested on Daniel who was still stubbornly keeping his eyes fixed on his hands.

"Okay," she said at last. "I will allow him to go. But," she interrupted the building celebration, "if anything, _anything_ at all makes you think that the situation is in any way _what so ever_ is changing I want you all to haul out of there double-time." As always when her patient's welfare was in the forefront of her mind, Janet seemed to forget that it wasn't in fact she who was the commander of the base.

The general somewhat futilely nodded his agreement. _How did I end up I charge of this unruly bunch?_ Luckily he trusted his CMO and seldom went against her in medical matters.

"Dr Jackson, you have permission to go," he confirmed and turned to meet Daniel's eyes, big and round as two blue saucers. In the background he glimpsed the grins of the rest of SG-1 and decided to address them as well before they were completely overcome by their joy. "Colonel, you heard Dr Fraiser. Watch your backs and get yourselves home without delay if there is even a hint of a threat."

He knew he could trust Jack to follow this specific order, no matter how he sometimes struggled with the concept of obedience. The man's loyalty to his friends would not allow anything else, in particular when it came to Daniel Jackson. _For better or worse, he'll do anything in his power to get him home safely._

"You embark at 0900 hours tomorrow. Get some rest people."

Janet homed in on Daniel's overjoyed eyes as well, and the glow radiating from his face made her unable to resist smiling. Determined to make sure he stayed safe, she reined in her automatic smile.

"Be careful out there. No heroics," she warned him. Daniel nodded earnestly, but Janet knew all his good intentions to follow her orders could come to nothing in an instant. It was just the way he was; unable to resist helping even if it cost him everything. _Always prepared to sacrifice himself, why can't he see his friends aren't as prepared for it? Especially when we've already thought we'd lost him so many times before. _With another, more forced, smile she let him go on his way and turned to Jack instead.

"Colonel." _Just like the General I'll have to put my faith in him to keep Daniel in line. Unfortunately we all know how well that's usually goes…_ "Keep him safe," she simply said. The three words were imbued with everything she and Jack both knew of Daniel. They both turned to consider him as he excitedly wheeled his way towards the elevator, no doubt heading for his office to prepare for the mission. Jack nodded. _Message received. Keep him safe – even from himself if necessary. _


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

As a precaution Jack decided to push Daniel through the open wormhole to meet with the aliens. Daniel didn't want him to, but the colonel's argument was irrefutable. Sometimes the exit was rougher than other times and while a man on his feet would have no trouble to compensate Daniel might have a harder time at it in his chair.

It was a welcome familiarity for Daniel to feel his body being ripped to microscopic pieces and put together again a fraction of a second later on the other side of the galaxy. For the past weeks he had been scarily sure he would never experience it again.

The warmth of the alien planet flowed over him as he took in the idyllic oasis before him. Just like on the team's first visit to the planet the genie-like woman came to meet them, appearing out of the hazy air like a mirage becoming solid. The three members of the team who had seen her once before still felt some of the awe that registered on Daniel's face when he saw her.

"Welcome return," the woman greeted them. Then she turned to Daniel specifically. "Derhaib, Daniel Jackson! Mjuhe sayd derhaiba ekyo konushan miri beti lourah ila Jinileme."

Jack recognized a few of the words as Arabic; remembering it from his time of running black-ops in Iraq. Daniel however quickly identified the entirety as the spoken version of the language in the alien data base from PQX-830.

"Hello…" he ventured, opting for Arabic since it in a way was one of the components of the language. He received a smile in return, and at the same time a jab in the back from curious Jack.

"She said welcome," he translated, "and that she was glad to meet the one who speaks her daughter tongue, I think. I'm not entirely sure but I think she's referring to Arabic."

The woman's smile widened and she switched back to English so they could all understand.

"The tongue which you name Arabic is indeed a daughter of ours. But come, the sun is high and the air is warm to you. We may talk further inside the meeting house. There is much you must hear before time turns its wheel out of our reach."

She led them along the paved path just as she had the first time, and into the meeting house. Teal'c aided Daniel over to one of the divans before he took a seat on the one beside him.

"May I ask your name?" Daniel inquired as the alien lowered herself onto the seat on his other side.

"I am called Pembi-Keran. It means pink ray of light."

In his mind Daniel picked apart the name. _Pembi – pembe, pink in Turkish. Kiran – Keran, Sanskrit, ray of light. _Pembi-Keran smirked, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"My name is from the mother tongue of Jihnnsai. The tongues you have named Arabic and Sanskrit are our daughter tongues, as are others among the tongues of Earth."

"Then I was right, your people has had contact with humans all over the Middle East? And influenced them and their languages?"

Pembi-Keran seemed to consider his question, her dark eyes looking deep into his lighter blue. She nodded.

"A long time ago, my people travelled Jioti Chaarc – this galaxy that you call the Milky Way. Much like you we had a great thirst for knowledge, and in our search of it we met many peoples that we came to know as friends. Among the worlds that we visited was Earth."

"Did you use the Stargate-system as well?" Daniel was leaning towards her, as if eagerly drinking her words. She giggled a little and continued.

"In this time we travelled by vessels…you would call them space-ships. We came upon the young Earth, where the human race was taking its first steps. In some parts dusyilan – the Goa'uld – had already made their mark, and so we turned to parts untouched by them."

"Why? Why did you avoid the Goa'uld?"

"Our quest was to learn, and of dusyilan we already knew all we needed and wanted. Thus we befriended the humans that were still purely of Earth to learn of them. At this time our kind only had one purpose; to learn as much as we were able of the Jioti Chaarc and all the things and beings within it. Not until we met the humans on Earth could we imagine a greater purpose than this. Your race is unlike any that we have known, full of passion and glory but also imagination and love deeper than we have ever confronted anywhere else. We began to learn _from_ the humans as they learned from us, and we found that our quest for knowledge was futile without an equal quest for the betterment of Jioti Chaarc. We realized our wandering ways were too fickle for this purpose and so we set out on a new search; for a world to call our own. At long last we came upon the planet which you refer to as PQX-830. We called it Youva – it means..."

"…home." Daniel finished her sentence, led by the complicated language mix he was beginning to comprehend. "Continue."

"In order to continue learning, as our thirst for knowledge was still strong, we connected ourselves to the network of Stargates – we call them Dynia-Kapase. Through our Stargate came many travelers and so we were able to remain in our home as we grew and expanded our minds."

"How come you abandoned Youva if you were intent on staying there?"

"We did not know it at first, but Youva was already dying when we first set foot on her soil. When her water began to grow scarce we decided to once again take up a search and found ourselves another home. However, as we ventured out into Jioti Chaarc again we found that dusyilan had taken dominion throughout the galaxy by their travel through the Stargate-network. It was only by chance that they had not reached our dying Youva. Thus when we found our new home, that we named Jinileme, we devised a path for our visitors to find us. Here the evil of dusyilan cannot touch us. We are protected, hidden within the very system that led you to us."

"Hidden? Inside the Stargate system?" Now Sam was the one leaning forward with intrigued questions.

"Yes. It is a necessary precaution to ensure our sanctuary. Only those who have visited the Hall of Gifts on Youva may pass through the Dynia-Kapase here. Thus we have assured ourselves that only those seeking may find the Jihnnsai."

"How is that possible?"

"If one would attempt to step through that has not seen the Hall of Gifts he would be returned from whence he came. Just as your 'MALP' was before your first visit here."

"But that's impossible," Sam protested, even though she had seen it with her own eyes. "Matter can only travel one way through the wormhole."

"We have altered this in the 'gate of Jinileme." The statement had an air of obviousness, as if the feat of altering one of the Stargates' basic functions wasn't a revolutionizing accomplishment.

"But, how does the 'gate know if someone has been on Youva?"

"As you found, the only path to the Hall of Gifts is through Inansh – the portal of faith. Passing through Inansh leaves a mark on the core of a being. Our Dynia-Kapase detects this and receives only those who seek the Jihnnsai. If time had permitted you would have learned this before your path led you here. As I told you on your first visit, the path that was constructed for visitors to find us runs through the gifts you received on Youva. They explain many things, and restriction of entry to Jinileme is one of them."

Sam didn't know what to say; she was still awed by the extraordinary changes these people had managed to make to their Stargate, and so Daniel took back the inquiry.

"You said your people is called Jihnnsai?" Pembi-Keran nodded in response to the question and he continued with a pondering tone, "I wonder…do you know there are legends on Earth of beings called Djinns. They are sometimes described with a striking similarity to your..." He gestured at the lower part of her body. "Do all Jihnnsai look like you." She nodded again.

"This is the form of the Jihnnsai. The shade of the us-hayat varies greatly though. Our temperament and personality is expressed in its color, and sometimes – in extreme situations –it may change its color. I did not know that the humans of Earth had weaved tales of us, but it is not surprising. We have been called many things by the peoples we have met, but Djinns…" She chuckled. "Your people is truly singularly unique."

"How so?

"Humans are the only people we have known to gift us a name derived from our mother tongue, as well as creating daughter tongues from ours. Humans learned so much from us, more than any other people we have befriended. No, it is not surprising that they weaved tales of us."

"The Djinns were believed to be beings with great magical powers, who sometimes granted wishes. There are stories of some Djinns that lived in magical lamps and bottles." A wisp of a conciliatory smile drifted across Daniel's face, indicating that he didn't believe these tales. Pembi-Keran however didn't seem offended at all.

"Humans have always been very intelligent," she said with a mix of admiration and pride. "Even when they do not understand us they describe us and our ways into recognition."

"You mean some of those things are true?" Daniel sat up straighter and gawked. She sniggered at his shocked expression.

"Some…all…'True' is a shift – a gray zone. The lamps and bottles you speak of are the vessels with which we travel across Jioti Chaarc, their shapes and functions interpreted by naïve minds. Our way upon meeting is that of gifting, as you have seen on Youva, but before we know of a new people we do not know what to appropriately gift them. Thus our gifts are to fulfill what the people wishes for with most heat. In granting these things we also learn a great deal of them, because a man's wishes is a window to his very core. You will each be granted a wish, as a sign of the friendship between our peoples. But remember this – we do not have magic in the sense that the legends of Earth believe, only technology most likely far beyond yours. Was it not one of your own wise ones who said that technology too far from a man's comprehension will be impossible for him to differentiate from magic?"

"Yes, that was Arthur C. Clarke…? It's been proven true many times; the Goa'uld even consciously use it to oppress their human slaves."

"We have seen this too and many times wished that we did indeed possess the magic to conquer them. In you our wishes have finally been granted and soon dusyilan shall fall from their arrogant position. As the wisdom of the book you call the Bible says, their pride has heralded their downfall."

"Pembi-Keran, I have to ask you one thing." Daniel hesitated and searched to find the words to voice the strange suspicion that had begun to form in his mind. "I can't help but notice...you know a lot of things about Earth, even things that must have happened long after your people left our planet. And you know exactly what to call things so that I understand when you explain. Can you…" _'Can you read my mind?' No, I can't ask that, it sounds crazy._

"Yes, Daniel Jackson, I can." Pembi-Keran interruption of his train of thought, made him jump in startled surprise. She tilted her head to the side with a mischievous expression. "Does it disturb you?"

He let out a nervous laugh and exchanged a glance with Jack, who gave him a semi-apologetic shrug. Seeing their discomfort Pembi-Keran restrained her amusement and lifted her hands in a placating gesture.

"Remain still in trust," she conciliated. "While your minds are as open to me as the sky I will not take that which you do not offer freely. Our ways would not allow it. All I have read has been to facilitate our communication. This has been necessary because we followed the decree of the heavens and altered our way to call you here. If you had followed the path we set for our visitors there would have been no need as you would have learned all you needed from our gifts."

Daniel's trust won out and he tried to push the knowledge of their host's mindreading from his mind by steering the conversation towards their errand. He could tell by the look on Jack's face he wasn't as prepared to forget about it, but he knew the new topic of conversation would trump his concerns.

"You seem concerned about time. You keep repeating that calling us here is a change of your ways.

"Yeah, what's the hurry?" Jack filled in, confirming Daniel's assessment of his priorities.

"The wheel of time is inexorable," Pembi-Keran replied with urgency in her voice. "You must come to us now, or never shall we meet."

"Okay…but why did we have to come?"

"You four hold a crucial part in the dance of the stars. We have read in the heavens of your future and it is the very future of Jioti Chaarc. By coming to us at this point of the turning of the wheel, you may glimpse at that which lies before you. If you heed the words of the age-old wisdom of the heavens they may lead you as you walk on, and guide your steps toward the perfect possible future."

Her words were heavy with foreshadowing. The talk of fate and great destiny made a chill creep along Jack's spine. Daniel however latched on to the implied means of her predictions.

"You mean to say that you can tell the future from the stars? Like astrology or a prophecy?"

"The Jihnnsai read the signs of the heavens. They tell us of the events that are still to pass in the universe. Nothing is set; we see all things that may come. It is not _the_ future, but a multitude of possibilities."

"So you try to lead things to the best, for example by calling for us to let us know what lies before us?"

Pembi-Keran shook her head with an almost supercilious expression on her face.

"Our way is not to meddle. In most things the best path is to let things develop in their own time. If you had not come to the Hall of Gifts we would not have searched you out. However, when your message reached us we read in the heavens that you must come to us. All paths to this point in time lead here, and all paths converge from it. Your decision to heed what we have read or not to heed it will determine the very path of Jioti Chaarc."

The four members of SG-1 gaped at her and into the thick silence enveloping the room Jack muttered, "No pressure." Daniel was still a bit skeptical about the idea of astrological predictions. As open minded as he was to other cultures and beliefs, the idea of prophesy was something not easy to accept as reality.

"You're really going to tell us our future?" he asked. Pembi-Keran tilted her head again before she responded.

"The heavens are cryptic even to the best of our readers. The wisest among us have meditated on the things we have read, and what has been derived from the heavens' movement we will gift you as advice and guidance. Are you ready to receive the knowledge of Jioti Chaarc?"

Daniel looked around to his friends. Jack shrugged non-committaly, but Sam scooted forward expectantly and Teal'c gave one of his curt nods. Daniel joined in with a more enthusiastic nod. "Yes, we're ready."

Pembi-Keran rose and stepped into the middle of the room. She made a series of sweeping gestures with her hands and a ornate armchair of dark stained wood appeared. Sitting down in it she turned to Jack.

"Come forth, Jack O'Neill." Another gesture made a thick pillow appear on the floor in front of her.

Jack pushed down his well-hidden nervousness, and rose to take the appointed seat. When he sank down on the pillow his old injured knee protested with its familiar stabbing pain. As always he ignored the protest from the limb and gritted his teeth to force it into compliance. In response the knee threatened to give out and simply drop him on his butt. The struggle for a controlled descent caused him to involuntarily sway, and Pempi-Keran reached out her hand to steady him.

"Thanks," he mumbled a little embarrassed after being aided down the last inches. "It usually doesn't act up like that."

"A single physical weakness is not a humiliation when there is such strength inside," she assured him. Her words did nothing to ease his discomfort, so she carried on with the matter at hand. She sat up straighter and her words gained a ceremonial ring, as she recited the divination for him.

"Jack O'Neill, heed the words of the heavens. Have faith. You will conquer the one you fear; you will prove to be the stronger one. But heed this, even though your past conflict will be rightened to your advantage you will both have to swallow your pride. Unless old enemies become allies the universe itself will fall."

Silence fell in the room as Jack and his teammates considered her words. Eventually Jack was the first to speak.

"You can't make that a little clearer?" he requested with joking hopefulness.

Pembi-Keran shook her head, her eyes serious despite the smile playing on her lips.

"As I have told you, the heavens are cryptic even to those Jihnnsai that have dedicated their lives to reading its signs. What has been decided for you to hear is the result of lengthy meditation. Meditate on your messages," she said to all of them, "together and on your own, to find the true meaning of the words. Teal'c, it is your turn."

She extended her hand again to aid Jack in standing. He accepted with another mumbled 'Thanks' and returned to the higher seat of his divan. Teal'c stepped forward and contrastingly graceful seated himself onto the pillow, his strong legs smoothly folding into the familiar lotus position of Kelno'reem. Pembi-Keran nodded approvingly, before she retook her formal posture.

"Teal'c, heed the words of the heavens. Your dream will come to pass, but there will come a time when you must choose your allegiance. As the threads of your unwavering hope come together you will stand at a crossroad. Choose wisely; the lives of many rest in the balance."

Teal'c received the prophecy with a nod and filed away the precise wording for consideration during his next session of Kelno'reem. Even though her no longer needed, or was able to, achieve the deepest levels of meditation he had found that the stillness of the habit still served him well in sorting his thoughts and making decisions. Pembi-Keran gave a pleased nod and turned to the female member of SG-1.

"Samantha Carter, come forth."

Sam sat down, almost as gracefully as Teal'c. Her heart carried even more skepticism than Daniel had expressed earlier, especially concerning the somewhat new-agy deliverance of their 'prophecies'. In her logical scientific mind there was very little room for flummery, but she decided to keep her lack of belief in those things to herself. There were many things she had not believed until she witnessed them with her own eyes, and there may still prove to be some fact to this latest seeming fiction. Daniel's constant insistence, ever since their very first mission together, had also taught her not dismiss a culture just because she didn't agree with it. If for no other reason than to be better than Jack, she always tried her best to heed his admonition.

"The heavens do not require your belief, Samantha Carter, but your choice to heed its words or not will." Pembi-Keran's words were uncomfortably on point, and made Sam a little suspicious of her earlier assurances to not read their minds more than permitted. Almost afraid she tried to banish the thought from her mind, but to her relief Pembi-Keran said nothing about it.

"Samantha Carter, heed the words of the heavens. Your greatness still awaits. As a warrior you are skilled, but the brilliance of your mind will be the tipping point of a galaxy. When one path comes to a close, that which another desires will come to you. A new range of lives will depend on your wisdom to guide them."

Finally the turn came to Daniel and Pembi-Keran rose to bring her chair to him on the divan. He quickly put his hand up to stop her.

"No, I can do it."

"You must not."

"It is your way, isn't it?" he asked with a gesture to the set up in the middle of the room. Pembi-Keran nodded. "Then I want to do it right. Teal'c, will you give me a hand?"

Teal'c bowed his head and rose to supply the support of his steady hands. Jack and Sam weren't far behind, hurrying to extend their hands as well. Surrounded by his three teammates Daniel shakily got to his feet. He leaned heavily on Teal'c and step by step moved to the pillow. When he sat down Teal'c's grip kept him from falling to quick, while Jack and Sam still hovered right behind. Pembi-Keran, who had been observing the transportation, encompassed them all with an admiring smile.

"You have good friends, Daniel Jackson, that hold you very dear. Their concern for you have been obvious in their minds since they first set foot on Jinileme." Daniel nodded and ducked his head as he felt his cheeks heat, but her following words were more worrying than embarrassing. "Their importance to you will continue to bring you both into and through grave danger."

"Is that my message?"

"No, and yes." She straitened up to her prophesying position. "Daniel Jackson, heed the words of the heavens. Old habits die hard. What's been done once may be done twice, but the choice is yours. What you have forgotten must return as you make your choice once again. You must learn what you have many times taught; that things are always in the shift and some matters are not as you thought. Still you must not abandon your struggle. Time again as time before the fate of Jioti Chaarc will rest on you."


End file.
